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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



THE DANGER SIGNAL; 



OR, 



A SHOT AT THE FOE. 



BY REV. L. L.- PICKETT, 

Author of "Leaves from the Tree of Life," "The Book and Its Theme," etc. 



,J bO 



PRICE $1. 
ORDER OF L L. PICKETT, COLUMBIA, S. C, 

OR OF THE 

Publishing House of the M. E. Church, South. 

Barbee & Smith, Agents, Nashville, Tenn. 

1891. 




DEDICATION. 

To All Lovers of the Bible, Accompanied by a Pure Gospel 
and of Religious and Civil Liberty, 
THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED 
BY 

The Author. 



Copyright, 1890, by L. L. Pickett. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



When I began this work I did not intend to make a book, but 
simply to use this subject for a section of another book. But the 
more I studied the subject the more it grew upon me, till my 
trouble has been to keep the book within proper limits. The 
subject, though wonderfully important, is not a pleasant one. It 
sickens the heart to wade through the fields of blood, and listen 
to the unearthly groans of Rome's murdered millions. The pages 
of indescribable corruption that every student of her history has 
to read are far from pleasant to decent people. 

But the work should be done. This country is infested with 
the Jesuitical minions of the pope to an alarming extent. " Eter- 
nal vigilance is the price of liberty ." The government, the press, 
the Churches, the people need arousing. I humbly hope this 
work may contribute to this desirable end. 

Though I've written with plainness, I have had no animosity. 
I fight Romanism, not Romanists. My love for Romanists would 
make me expose the errors of the system that enslaves them and 
robs them of a pure gospel. Let every reader help to break the 
shackles that fetter the souls of the millions of adherents of 
popery. 

I trust Christians of all our Churches will look into this ques- 
tion. You will find Roman Catholicism beyond a doubt to be 
the great apostasy. It has violated nearly if not every law of 
God. Note the following points : 

1. Images. Exodus xx. 4,5. 

2. Celibacy. Hebrews xiii. 4 ; 1 Timothy iv. 1-3. 

3. Calling the priest " father." Matthew xxiii. 9. 
• 4. Exercising lordship. Matthew xx. 25-28. 

5. She fulfills many scriptures. Revelations xvii. 3-6; 2 Thes- 
salonians ii. 1-12. 

These only serve as illustrations. Many points are brought 
out in the body of this work. Every friend of God, his word, 
and a pure Christianity should bestir himself to put a check to 
the encroachment of the popish superstition upon this land of 
liberty. 

(3) 



INTRODUCTORY. 



In my studies on this subject I have made use of many au- 
thorities, living and dead. Among others I asked several mis- 
sionaries in Catholic countries to describe Romanism. The fol- 
lowing from Miss Blanche Gilbert, a returned missionary, was 
prepared for this work by request. It is clear, and will corrobo- 
rate the substance of this book. It fully justifies the publication 
of the work. Hear her : 

It was with some hesitation that I accepted an appointment to labor as 
a missionary in Mexico. I had been associated with devout Christians of 
the Roman Catholic faith under circumstances calculated to excite a 
most favorable disposition toward them, and it was not at all clear to my 
mind that Protestants were doing right in attempting to proselyte Ro- 
man Catholic nations, at least so long as such a large portion of the world 
remained in pagan darkness. Seven years' association with unadulter- 
ated Romanism has, however, entirely disabused my mind of the idea 
that it can justly be regarded, even by the broadest charity, as a branch 
of the true Church of Christ; and I am convinced that no grosser idolatry 
is practiced in any pagan land than the worship offered at the shrines of 
the Virgin and the saints in Mexico. 

An intelligent American Catholic told me he never entered the Mexi- 
can Churches, although he had lived several years in Mexico, because he 
could not tolerate their idolatrous practices. "This is not true Catholi- 
cism," he said; " it is the corrupt religion of the sixteenth century, and it 
is not the Catholic faith, but the character of the people that is to be blamed 
for the condition of affairs in Mexico." He could not see that this is in 
reality pure Romanism, and that the form we know in our own country 
is so tempered by its contact with Protestantism that it gives us little idea 
of its real character. 

A Mexican gentleman, who claimed to be a good Catholic, told me he 
never went to the churches on great feast days because they were so 
thronged with the poor, ignorant masses, who went there only to worship 
the images, that anything like real devotion was impossible. " But," 
he added, " that is not the fault of our religion. People of that class are not 
capable of receiving any thing but a form of worship. If you were to make 
them all Protestants, it would only be a change from one form to another.-" 
That the Catholic Church was to blame for this condition of the masses he 
would not for one moment admit. 

I do not hesitate to claim that it has cursed Mexico with: 

I. Ignorance. Under the Catholic rule there were no schools for the 
laboring classes, who form fully nine-tenths of the population, and few 
adults of this class can even read. This is especially true of the women. 
The promulgation of the new Constitution m 1857 destroyed the civil pow- 
er of the Catholic Church, and one of the first acts of the Liberal govern- 
ment was the establishment of a fine system of public schools. There is 
hardly a city in the United States in which greater interest is manifest- 
ed in the education of the masses than is now shown in the capital of 
Mexico. On one occasion I attended the closing exercises of the public 
schools, and saw children of the poorest class receiving prizes and certifi- 
cates from the hand of the President of the republic. I also saw several 
hundred young girls being trained in an industrial school for lives of use- 
fulness. Another interesting sight I witnessed was a procession of three 



INTRODUCTORY. 



thousand young men and boys from the government schools celebrating 
their Independence Day, September 16. -The Catholics are not in sympathy 
with this spirit of progress ; in fact, their antagonism was so clearly rec- 
ognized by the national leaders that one of the provisions of the Laws of 
Reform is that no religious teaching shall be allowed in any government 
institution. 

The Bible is pot read at all by the people, and few of them know any 
thing of any part of it except the Lord's Prayer and a distorted version 
of the Decalogue, the Second Commandment being omitted, and the Fourth 
reading, " Thou shalt keep the feast days." Sometimes, in trying to con- 
vince them of a point, we quote a passage and tell them these are God's 
own words as found in the Bible. " Y r es," they reply, u in your Protest- 
ant Bible, but Ave do not accept that." They are much surprised when we 
show them the identical words in the Bibles published by the authority 
of their own Church. A native pastor endeavoring to sell a Bible to a 
woman, told her it was thepure gospel. " I don't want your gospel," she 
replied. u It is not mine" he said," but the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
" I don't want that either." "Ah! you want the gospel of the priests." 
*' Yes; that is good enough for me." 

II. Superstition. The Virgin Mary is the real god of Mexico. It is 
claimed that she, being the mother of God, and the source of his power, is 
superior to him, and that no favor can be obtained except through her. 
Usually the first question we are asked when attempting to teach them, is: 
"What about the most holy Mary? " It is surprising what absurdities 
even intelligent people can be brought to believe. Between two and 
three hundred images of the Virgin are worshiped, a distinct individual- 
ity and separate powers being ascribed to each. During the wars of inde- 
pendence one of these was rex>resented as fighting on the side of the Spanish 
oppressor, and another taking the part of the Mexican patriots. One Vir- 
gin can cure fevers, another protects travelers, another cattle, etc. Two 
men were heard gravely disputing whether the Lord of the Chalma and 
the Lord of the Sacred Mount (both images of Christ) were first cousins 
or brothers. Once when I was trying to teach a little boy about Jesus and 
his tender care for the children, he showed me a tiny, cheap medallion 
suspended from his neck, and said : " I don't need him to take care of me. 
This is my saint, and he will not let any thing harm me." 

A lady associated with me in the work asked one of her 23upils on the 
eve cf St. Joseph's Day if she would be at school the next day, and she re- 
plied: " O no; it is God's father's birthday, and it would be wrong to go 
to school." 

The priests work upon their superstitious fears to prevent their holding 
any intercourse with us, telling them that sickness or death in the family, 
or any affliction that comes upon them, is the result of encouraging the ac- 
cursed Protestants. They are sometimes afraid to pass our houses or touch! 
anything we have handled. The cardinal doctrine of their faith is blind 
obedience to the priest's authority. " The priest says thus and so," is the 
one unanswerable argument. 

A young boy, after hearing the gospel, said: u Even if what you teach 
is true, I dare not accept it. Our religion teaches that if the padres • 
[priests] tell us that it is day when we know it is night we must believe 1 
them." 

III. Immorality . So far as I have observed, the teaching of the Catho- 
lic Church tends to relieve the individual of all sense of moral responsibil- 



INTRODUCTORY. 



ity. When seeking to teach children the nature of sin I have been told: 
'•But if we do these things, we have only to confess them to the prisst, 
and he makes it just the same as if we had not done them." 

The Sabbath is only observed as a day of feasting and lioting. It is im- 
possible for one to enjoy a moment of Sabbath quiet in a Mexican town. 
The greatest difficulty we have with our native members is in teaching 
them to regard the Sabbath. Saloons stand on every corner, and drunk- 
enness is almost universal. The poorer classes are dishonest to the last 
degree. They will take the key from your door, the glass from your win- 
dows, and even appropriate articles of no value whatever, as if from pure 
love of robbery. Children of all classes open, their eyes in astonishment 
when told that falsehood or any thing that approaches deception is a sin 
against God. 

IV. Poverty. The large majority of the working classes of Mexico are 
in the most abjectly degraded condition that could be conceived. They 
are, as a rule, indolent, thriftless, improvident, frequently pawning bed- 
ding, clothing, and even the tool upon which their daily bread depends, 
for means to celebrate a feast in honor of some " saint." To what extent 
this is due to Catholic influence is difficult to determine, but there can be 
no question that the extortions of the priests contribute largely toward 
keeping them in this condition. Wages are low, and the cost of living 
high, so that with the closest economy and wisest management it would 
hardly be possible for a laboring man to support a family in comfort; but 
if there is no bread in the house, the priest's fees must be paid, or the fam- 
ily will be cutoff from all the benefits of the Church. The greatest source 
of revenue to the priests is the saying of masses for the dead, the number 
of the prayers and their degree of efficacy being determined by the amount 
of the fee. On All-souls-day I visited one of the principal churches in 
Mexico. In the vestibule a priest was stationed, and in front of him a 
small table, on which was placed a human skull and a receptacle for mon- 
ey. With his right hand he sprinkled consecrated water on the skull, and 
with his left received and counted the money from the vast throng of peo- 
ple that surged in the entrance, all the while mumbling the masses in the 
most rapid and irreverent manner. Last year a man was converted in 
Mexico City whose experience was one of the most remarkable I have ever 
heard. He confessed that he had been guilty of almost every crime that 
could be committed, and that his first lessons in iniquity were learned in 
the service of a priest. He said that on All-souls-day the priest would dress 
him up in priestly robes, teach him some Latin words, and make him also 
assist in saying masses for the dead, because more people came than the 
priest could attend to alone, and ne was afraid of losing some of the fees. 
The priest said masses himself for all who brought over twenty-five cents* 
and sent all who brought less than that*to his servant. The poor people 
of course thought it was a strange priest. 

The Mexicans have inherited from their Indian ancestors the belief 
that if they put food on the graves of their dead friends they will come in 
the night and carry it away. The man said his master encouraged the 
people in this belief, then sent him to gather up their offerings, and the 
two feasted on the rich food and wines, joking and laughing at the cre- 
dulity of the people. Blanche Gilbert. 



CONTENTS. 



PART I.-ROMANISM. Page 

Her Claims 9 

" One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church " 15 

Infallibility 44 

Universal Supremacy 62 

Transubstantiation 71 

Purgatory 81 

Origin of the Doctrine of Purgatory . . , 86 

Relics and Miracles , 95 

The Bible and Tradition ... 108 

Indulgences, Absolution, and Excommunication 124 

' Celibacy and the Confessional : Fruits of. 136 

Bloodshed 161 

Temporal Power 182 

Avarice 203 



PART II.-ROMANISM TO-DAY. 

Her Claims 217 

Some of Rome's Fruits 232 

Education ; . , 248 

Education (Continued) 264 

Rome in the United States and Some Other Countries 275 

What Shall Be Done? 294 

What Must Be Done? 308 

(7) 



THE DANGER SIGNAL. 



PART I —ROMANISM. 



Her Claims. 



We open these pages with a statement of some of 
the exorbitant claims of "the holy Mother Church," 
as she is affectionately styled by her devoted children 
in the faith. We shall not intentionally or knowing- 
ly misrepresent her teachings or history in any thing 
that shall follow. The best information obtainable 
may not in every particular be correct. . The history 
and workings of Rome are not always easy to find or 
to understand. Bishop Bowman, of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, expresses it thus /"The Bornish 
Church not only keeps a keen eye toward the Prot- 
estant press, but keeps a watchful one over the Cath- 
olic press as well. Its writers are not permitted to 
publish what they please, nor are its people allowed 
to read freely what has been written even by Catholic 
authors. Some books are expurgated; some are sup- 
pressed; some are cautiously circulated for the ben- 
efit of the favored few, while many are so carefully 
guarded that it is difficult to find them on sale even 
in Catholic bookstores. / 

"A distinguished friend of mine, who desired to in- 
vestigate some of the questions now so earnestly dis- 
cussed, spent large sums of money and years of labor 



10 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

in trying to get hold of certain standard Catholic 
books. Some of these were not old and rare, as might 
be supposed, but of recent date, and yet it required 
no little strategy on the part of book-sellers and others 
to purchase some of these books. Another friend had 
equal difficulty in procuring the productions of cer- 
tain Catholic authors. . . . Even a distinguished 
Catholic bishop has admitted in a recent sermon, if 
correctly reported, that the Encyclical of the late pope 
(Pius IX.) was not intended for the public, but some- 
how, unwisely, got into circulation." 

The bishop continues r" But we non-Catholics have 
still greater. difficulty on this point. When we do get 
the authors we find them so full of contradictions that 
we are thrown into still greater confusion. One pa- 
pal bull contradicts another; one council affirms what 
another denies; one popish writer makes emphatic 
statements, as historically correct, which another as 
emphatically pronounces to be forgeries. Which are 
we to believe?"/ "The learned Father Paul says: 
' There wants not in Italy pious and learned persons 
which hold the truth, but they are not suffered to 
write nor to print. Something comes from another 
place, but presently it is prohibited.' Again he af- 
firms that Clement VIII. (pope from 1592 to 1605) 
taught that the books of Catholic authors 'might be 
corrected and amended, not only by taking away what 
is not conformable to the doctrines of Rome, but also 
with adding to it.' " — "Popular Lectures" p. 325. / 

It was during the reign of Pope Clement VIII. that 
Philip, King of Spain, "condemned to be burned 
book-sellers who sold, bought, or lent books forbid- 
den by the Inquisition." — De Cormeirin. 



HER CLAIMS. 11 



We are fully aware that Rome, despite her corrup- 
tions and degeneracy, can boast in her communion 
some good people; some who love the Lord Jesus in 
sincerity, and serve him in purity of life. She can 
point to noble examples of holiness, self-renunciation, 
and zeal that shine like heavenly diamonds from out 
of the sickening cess- pools of the annals of her past. 
They were good, pure, devoted to God, in spite of 
Home's idolatrous influences, and not because there- 
of. We honor the names of such lights as Faber, De 
Renty, Lopez, Madame Guyon, et al. We have no 
reproach for any true servant of the Lord Jesus, for 
any who exemplify the holy truths of God's word, 
even though they are in the Romish fold. We could 
certainly rejoice to see them in a more worthy com- 
munion. We shall speak of Rome, as a Church shall 
we call it? rather as an ecclesiastical hierarchy, seek- 
ing to control the ends of the earth; a political insti- 
tution striving in the name, but not the spirit, of our 
holy Christian religion to gain universal, temporal, 
and ecclesiastical dominion. 

Let Catholics, as well as Protestants, who read our 
facts and arguments, do so without prejudice, as the 
writer shall attempt to write, and then decide accord- 
ing to your own judgment whether Romanism is what 
she claims to be: "The One, Holy, Catholic [uni- 
versal], Apostolic Church." This quotation, with 
the following, is from "The Grounds of the Catholic 
Doctrine." 

I most steadfastly admit and embrace apostolic and ecclesias- 
tical traditions, and all other observances and constitutions of the 
same Church. 

I also admit the holy Scripture according to that sense which 



12 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

our holy mother, the Church, has held, and does hold ; to which 
it belongs to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the 
Scriptures; neither will I ever take and interpret them other- 
wise than according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers. 

I also profess that there are truly and properly seven sacra- 
ments of the new law, instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord, and 
necessary for the salvation of mankind, though not all for every 
one— to wit, Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Extreme 
Unction, Orders, and Matrimony; and that they confer grace; 
and that of these Baptism, Confirmation, and Orders cannot be 
reiterated without sacrilege. And I also receive and admit the 
received and approved ceremonies of the Catholic Church used 
in the solemn administration of the aforesaid sacraments. 

I embrace and receive all and every one of the things which 
have been defined and declared in the holy Council of Trent, 
concerning original sin and justification. 

I profess likewise that in the Mass there is offered to God a 
true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the 
dead. And that in the most holy sacrifice of the Eucharist there 
are truly, really, and substantially the Body and Blood, together 
with the Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that 
there is made a conversion of the w T hole substance of the bread 
into the body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the 
blood: which conversion the Catholic Church calls transubstan- 
tiation. I also confess that under either kind alone Christ is re- 
ceived whole and entire, and a true sacrament. 

I constantly hold that there is a purgatory, and that the souls 
therein detained are helped by the suffrages of the faithful. 

Likewise, that the Saints reigning together with Christ are to 
be honored and invocated ; and that they offer prayers to God 
for us ; and that their relics are to be had in veneration. 

I most firmly assert that the images of Christ, of the Mother 
of God, ever Virgin, and also of other Saints, may be had and 
retained, and that due honor and veneration are to be given 
them. 

I also affirm that the power of indulgences was left by Christ 
in the Church, and that the use of them is most wholesome to 
Christian people. 

I acknowledge the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Roman Church 
for the mother and mistress of all Churches ; and I promise true 



HER CLAIMS. 13 



obedience to the Bishop of Kome, successor to St. Peter, prince 
of the apostles, and vicar of Jesus Christ. 

I likewise undoubtedly receive and profess all other things 
delivered, defined, and declared by sacred canons and general 
councils, and particularly by the holy council of Trent. And I 
condemn, reject, and anathematize all things contrary thereto, 
and all heresies which the Church has condemned, rejected, and 
anathematized. 

I, N. N. 9 do at this present freely profess and sincerely hold 
this true Catholic faith, without which no one can be saved ; and 
I promise most constantly to retain and confess the same, entire 
and inviolate, with God's assistance, to the end of my life. 

"Pope Phis IX., in delivering the decrees of the 
Vatican Council, July 18, 1870, said: 'All thefaithful 
of Christ are bound to believe that the Holy Apostolic 
See and the Roman pontiff possess the primacy over 
the entire world; and that the Roman pontiff himself 
is the successor of the blessed Peter, the prince of 
the apostles, and that he is the true vicar of Christ, 
the Head of the whole Church, and the Father and 
Teacher of all Christians; and that to him in blessed 
Peter has been delivered by our Lord Jesus Christ 
the full power to feed, to rule, and to govern the Uni- 
versal Church, as it is also contained in the acts of the 
Ecumenical Councils and the Sacred Canons./. ^ . . 
This is the doctrine of Catholic truth, from which no 
one can deviate without loss of faith and salvation.' ' 
— " Popular Lectures" p. 416./ 

The doctrines of the immaculate conception of the 
Virgin and the personal infallibility of the pope must 
not be overlooked if we would properly understand 
the teachings of Rome. The doctrine of the univer- 
sal supremacy has been struggling to the front for 
more than thirteen hundred years; infallibility has, 
of course, held about even pace. They are twin doc- 



14 THE DANGEK SIGNAL. 

trines — conceits, rather, of Koine. Of course if she 
must rule the world, as " the mother and mistress of 
all Churches," she must have access to some source 
of infallibility. The statement of this dogma has 
given "the Church" no little trouble. Infallibility 
has sometimes been thought to reside in the Church 
as a whole, sometimes in general councils, but it wa^ 
finally located, as late as A.D. 1870, in the pope when 
he speaks ex cathedra — i, e., in official capacity. Let 
us remember that infallibility means " unable to err, 
cannot do wrong or mistake." Do not all my read^ 
ers agree with Webster that "no man can be infalli- 
ble; it belongs to God only?" 

We have endeavored to state what Rome teaches. 
We will try to carefully and prayerfully examine her 
positions, weighing them in the threefold scales of 
Scripture, reason, and history, a test that Home would 
hardly seek, we think. 



"One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic 
Church," 



Every member of Rome's communion must give 
assent to the following: "I acknowledge the Holy, 
Catholic, Apostolic, Roman Church for the mother 
and mistress of all Churches, and I promise true 
obedience to the Bishop of Rome (the pope), succes- 
sor to St. Peter, prince of the apostles and vicar of 
Jesus Christ." 

Next we have in comment upon the caption of this 
chapter: 

" Ques. What do you gather from these words? 

"Arts. 1. That Jesus Christ has always a true 
Church upon earth. 2. That this Church is always 
one, by the union of all her members in one faith and 
communion. 3. That she is always pure and holy in 
her doctrine and terms of communion, and conse- 
quently free from pernicious errors. 4. That she is 
Catholic — that is, universal, by being the Church of 
all ages, and more or less of all nations. 5. That this 
Church must have in her a succession from the apos- 
tles, and a lawful mission derived from them. 6. 
Which follows from all the rest, that this true Church 
of Christ cannot be any of the Protestant sects, but 
must be the ancient Church communicating with the 
Bishop of Rome " — L e., the pope. — "Grounds of Catho- 
lic Doctrine" pp. 7, 8. 

With such views of the Church, the conclusion they 

(15) 



16 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

deduce is very natural, that without her fold" no one 
can be saved." 

I. We inquire: IS EOME ONE? is she undivid- 
ed? have there been no splits, no factions, no sects in 
her historv? Let us see. Hear Bishop Thomas 
Bowman :/" As to the boasted 'unity' of the Romish 
Church, who that is posted in history does not know 
that the history of the Catholic Church is an almost 
unbroken narration of discord, contention, and divis- 
ion, from the beginning? Witness the cruel, bloody 
wars that have been waged between the Catholic 
powers of Europe on theological questions, and often 
between some of these powers and the pope himself! 
Listen to the fearful thunders issuing, from time to 
time, from the Vatican against its discordant and re- 
bellious subjects! Hear the terrific anathemas 
hurled by pope against pope, or by council against 
council; or by pope against council, or council 
against pope. See the schismatics, as they are con- 
temptuously called, who, under various names have, 
from time to time, been driven out of the Roman 
Catholic Church, or have voluntarily retired from it, 
because they could not live peaceably in it and main- 
tain their Christian manhood ! / 

" But let us look a little more closely into the pres- 
ent condition of the Romish Church, and see as to its 
vaunted unity. What do ' clerical ' and ' anti-clerical ' 
mean in Catholic France? Why did the Catholic 
powers of Europe watch with so much solicitude the 
recent election of the pope? Who does not know the 
bitter jealousy existing among many of the so-called 
' Orders,' especially between the Jesuits and the anti- 
Jesuits? Have we forgotten that these same Jesuits, 



"one, holy, catholic, apostolic church." 17 

who are now in great favor in Borne, have been fre- 
quently cast off, and have even been expelled from 
several Catholic countries of Europe and America? 
Are we not all familiar with the fact that Italy her- 
self stands to-day in open opposition to the pope, as 
to some of his claims, and is in rebellion against his 
authority? In our own country, and in this city [St. 
Louis], there are members of the Catholic Church 
who declare that they do not believe in the infallibil- 
ity of the pope." — "Popular Lectures" pp. 329, 330. 

He quotes a distinguished author as follows: "Al- 
most every celebrated school-man in the Romish com- 
munion became the founder of a particular demoni- 
nation, distinguished by a peculiarity of regulation 
and government. The Augustinians, Franciscans, 
Dominicans, Jansenists, Jesuits, Benedictines have 
all been characterized by different rites, discipline, 
and ceremonies." "The boasted unity thereof," adds 
the bishop, " is simply in outward form, the unity of 
the chain-gang or of the grave-yard." 

And yet Eome has the temerity to unchurch all 
Christendom, and anathematize the world outside, on 
the fallacy of a supposed, a boasted " unity " within 
her own fold. Her quarrels and internal dissensions, 
coupled on to her claim of oneness, remind one of a 
powerful volcano. One huge mountain indeed it is, 
but O the noise, the heat, the tumult within! Death, 
shame, and confusion lurk there. It is true Eome 
holds together remarkably, but it is the unity of or- 
ganism, of the iron bonds of despotism, superstition, 
and consequent slavery. Rome's unity is not through 
the God-made, indissoluble bonds of holy love. The 
unity taught in the Bible is that of heavenly love, di- 
2 



18 THE DANGER SIGNAL, 

vine adhesion, begotten in the hearts of those who 
know and love God by the Holy Spirit. 

Rome's oneness is that produced by a spirit of soul- 
slavery and awe, which feels that the issues of eterni- 
ty hang on obedience to the pope, who is looked upon 
as the head of the Church, the vicar of Christ on 
earth. The unity taught in God's word is the one- 
ness of soul-fellowship. In it the fires of God's love 
consume the dross of the carnal nature, the Holy 
Spirit welds these cleansed hearts into loving fellow- 
ship that knows no pope (father) but God and no 
sect but the sincere servants of God from every 
Church and clime. 

But since Rome stakes her high claims on her 
oneness, we must be allowed a picture of her as drawn 
by the masterly pen of her own historian, De Corme- 
nin. He says: "The pontiffs have constantly shown 
themselves in contradiction with their predecessors. 
After the death of one infallible pope, his successor, 
as infallible as himself, accused him of error, schism, 
and idolatry, and anathematized his acts, to be in his 
turn pronounced a heretic, a simoniac, and an idola- 
ter."— "History of the Popes," I., 271. 

For further light read the following letter of John 
the Eighth (pope from 872 to 882) to the Emperor 
Basil: "The patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch, and 
Jerusalem, the metropolitans, bishops, priests, and 
all the ecclesiastics of Constantinople, who are of the 
ordination of Methodius and Ignatius, having now 
consented unanimously to the return of Photius (a 
deposed patriarch), we, like them, receive him as the 
bishop of your capital, a brother, and colleague; and 
desirous of putting an end to all schisms in the 



"ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC, APOSTOLIC CHURCH." 19 

Church, we relieve him from all censures pronounced 
against him, as well as the prelates, clerks, and lay- 
men who were under the same censures. We erase 
the acts of our predecessors, by virtue of the author- 
ity given us by Jesus Christ, in the person of the 
prince of the apostles. Besides, we declare that the 
legates of Adrian — [the infallible? ! pope who pre- 
ceded him. Remember, reader, that Rome is 
'one,' and the popes infallible! the point lies in 
these two considerations — P.] — subscribed to the pro- 
ceedings of the council which condemned Photius, 
only out of compliance for this hypocritical pope, and 
not in obedience to the commands of justice." — "His- 
tory of the Popes" /., 265. 

For some more of Pome's " oneness " read the fol- 
lowing from Rev. I. J. Lansing: "There are at least 
four periods when there were two popes at once, and 
how they did curse each other! I never heard or 
read such cursing, except as between popes. Tou re- 
member what a gift at that Pius IX. had. Well from 
the first — and that is one reason why we know Peter 
was never a pope — from the first these popes have 
used the most diabolical language toward one another 
when there happened to be two of them. -''And on two 
separate occasions there were three popes. Now 
which of the three was pope, when all claimed to be? 
They were all cursing — if that is any mark of a pope 
— every man of them anathematizing and denouncing 
the others. At the time known as the great schism, 
occurring from and after 1378, there was a period of 
seventy years in which there was a pope at Avignon, 
over in France, and a pope in Rome, and they surely 
did not hold each other in good estimation. There 



20 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 



were seventy years in which the air was bine with 
their anathemas, and the apostolic succession was 
wholly unsettled. Now you remember that these 
popes were all infallible! " — "Romanism and the Repub- 
lic," 206. 

Popes have quarreled even to bloodshed. They 
have cursed and denounced each other in the most 
unmeasured terms — according to the true popish 
method. Nothing has been too hard for them to say 
of each other! Heretics, schismatics, apostates, in- 
corrigibles, adulterers, etc., have been frequently used 
by one pope or council to describe another. Still 
Rome is "one," we are told! 

Every Catholic must believe in " One, Holy, Cath- 
olic, Apostolic Church," and "this Church must have 
in her a succession from the apostles, and a lawful 
mission derived from them." And the popes are in- 
fallible! This puzzles us. Just how^ to get oneness, 
holiness, catholicity, apostolicity, and infallibility out 
of these jarring, quarreling, discordant papal factions 
is too much for us. If the popes at Avignon were 
the true infallibles, and possessed the true oneness 
among themselves, wdiat about their opponents and 
equals at Rome? and if the Romans had it, w T hat of 
Avignon's infallibles? But, withal, how can we get 
unity out of such contemptible and ungodly strife 
and wrangling? How? In view of such schism, con- 
tention, strife, and enmity as the Romanists have 
manifested among themselves at various times and 
places, I, for one, can have no respect for her vain 
boast of being the " One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic 
Church." I think the candid judgment of any read- 
er of her history must be that her claims of succes- 



"ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC, APOSTOLIC CHURCH." 21 



sion, holiness, and unity have centuries since all gone 
to pieces, and now have no existence, if they ever had. 
Therefore I do not acknowledge the un-Holy, ww-Cath- 
olic, ww- Apostolic Bom an Church for the mother and 
mistress of all Churches; and I do not promise true 
obedience to the Bishop of Borne, (he being not the) 
successor to St. Peter, prince of the apostles and vi- 
car of Jesus Christ. 

Speaking of the origin of the title of " universal 
bishop " as it was first claimed by Pope Boniface the 
Third, Bev. Dr. S. H. Ford says: "Though it was 
obtained by intrigue and treachery, and granted by 
a base and bloody tyrant, it was soon made an article 
of faith, the rejection of which was to be visited by 
banishment and death here, and eternal ruin here- 
after. Bight and liberty were gone > oppression and 
corruption everywhere prevailed^lSays a great Bo- 
manist writer: ' These times, through the ambition 
and cruel tyranny of the popes, were extremely un- 
happy; for the popes, setting aside the fear of God 
and his worship, fell into such enmities among them- 
selves as cruel tyrants exercise to one another.' " — 
"Phik Burgamansis," A.I). 908. 

Dr. Ford continues: "This is the picture of papal 
Borne' s meridian glory, drawn not by the hand of an 
opponent, but by her learned defender. ... It 
was the day of triumph of the foes of freedom. It 
was the iron rule of spiritual despotism; the reign of 
terror and of superstition; the ghostly night of the 
dark ages; the period to which the soldiers of the 
pope point us as the noontide splendor of their 
Church, and whose return is the cherished object of 
their aims." — "Popular Lectures" 8, 9. 



22 * THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

Yes, the Roman Church then held the sway in 
which she delights, though popes cursed popes, coun- 
cils anathematized councils, and intriguing, simony, 
oppression, and bloodshed abounded. The "unity" 
of the " One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church " has to 
maintain itself through all these years of darkness, 
corruption, strife, and distress. These scenes are 
more worthy of bedlam than of a communion claim- 
ing to be "the mother and mistress of all Churches," 
the only true representative of God on earth. 

II. Is Borne holt/? 

These questions of the holiness, oneness, catholicity, 
and apostolicity of the Roman Church run into each 
other, so that it is rather hard to discuss them sep- 
arately. In the preceding section, on Rome's one- 
ness, we encroached somewhat on the territory upon 
which we now begin our investigation. Rome stakes 
her right to universal supremacy on her holiness. If 
we find in her claims and history a spirit of evil tri- 
umphing over all her holiness, her vaunted suprem- 
acy falls to the ground. In the Bible holiness means 
love. God is holy. " God is love." (1 John iv. 8.) 
We must love God with all our heart and soul* and 
mind, and our neighbor as ourself. (Matt. xxii. 37- 
40. ) " He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and 
God in him." (1 John iv. 16.) We are not only to 
love good men, but also the bad, for " God commend- 
eth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sin- 
ners, Christ died for us," (Rom. v. 8.) So, as chil- 
dren of God, we must love our enemies. -Atone time 
a certain village of the Samaritans refused to receive 
Jesus, and forthwith James and John wished to call 
fire down from heaven to consume them. But Jesus 



"ONE, holy, catholic, apostolic chukch." 23 

rebuked tliem and told them they knew not what man- 
ner of spirit they were of. (Luke ix. 51-56.) Home 
has been like James and John: too much disposed to 
use fire and sword. She has not shown love, and 
without love there can be no holiness, for holiness is 
Godlikeness, and "God is love." 

Before introducing the testimony of history against 
the boasted holiness of the Roman Church, note the 
following propositions on which she stakes all her as- 
sumptions on her holiness and freedom from " perni- 
cious errors." We quote from a book issued by P. 
J. Kennedy, Catholic publisher, N. Y.: "The Church 
of Christ is always holy in her doctrine and terms of 
communion, and always free from pernicious errors." 
" The true Church of Christ, in virtue of the prom- 
ises both of the Old and New Testaments, was to 
continue pure and holy in all ages, even to the end of 
the world, and consequently could never stand in need 
of a Protestant reformation; therefore that which was 
of old the true Church of Christ must still be so; 
and it is vain to seek for the true Church amongst 
any of the sects or pretenders to reformation,* be- 

* The writer of this book would never try to locate " the true 
Church of Christ " in any sect, either Catholic or Protestant. He 
believes heartily in Church organizations, but does not think 
that the true Church of Christ is confined to any one sect or de- 
nomination. He believes, in common with most Protestants, 
that the Church of Christ is made up of those from all denom- 
inations (even Eome included) who love the Lord Jesus Christ 
in sincerity, serving him in holiness of life. " God is no respect- 
er of persons," nations, or Churches. All who have Jesus in the 
heart by faith (Eph. iii. 17), who are baptized by the Spirit of 
God (1 Cor. xii. 13), who are regenerated by the Holy Ghost 
(John iii. 3; Tit. iii. 5), justified by faith (Rom. v. 1), pure in 



24 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

cause they all build upon a wrong foundation — that 
is, upon the supposition that the Church of Christ 
(i. e., of Eome) was for many ages gone astray." 
"The true Church must be one and in one commun- 
ion." — "Grounds of Catholic Doctrine" pp. 13, 20. 

According to this Eome cannot be the Church of 
Christ unless she has always been holy and free from 
pernicious errors. But the Eoman Church has not 
always been thus holy and free from errors; there- 
fore Rome is not the Church of Christ. 

The major premise is furnished by the pope. If 
we can establish the minor premise, the conclusion is 
inevitable. To the task. 

Eome has broken nearly, if not all, the command- 
ments. 

1. "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." (Ex. 
xx. 3. ) 

Our God is he whom we worship and to whom we 
pray. The Eoman institution teaches the worship of 
Mary and many other human beings whom she calls 
saints. This is seen in her creed and Church writ- 



heart (Matt. v. 8), sanctified by the blood of Jesus (not by pur- 
gatory) (Heb. xiii. 12), and who follow peace with all men and 
holiness (Heb. xii. 14); all those who are "faithful unto death" 
(Rev. ii. 10), he confidently expects to meet in heaven, whether 
they be Catholic or Protestant, Jew or Gentile. 

No one Church fold can have the honor of bringing up all the 
saved before the throne, whatever may be the vain boastings of 
Rome. To such Jesus will say: "I am the door;" "the way, the 
truth, the life ; " "I have other sheep not of this fold." We love 
Catholics, but, for the glory of God and the good of all, must ex- 
pose "the pernicious errors" of the Roman hierarchy, which ar- 
rogantly assumes to be the only fold of God on earth, outside of 
whose communion none can be saved. 



"ONE, holy, catholic, apostolic church." 25 

ings. The teachers of Rome try to make a distinc- 
tion between the worship they pay to God, which 
they call supreme (latreia), and that they allow to 
angels and saints, which they say is of a lower order 
(douleia). But the Scriptures do not thus classify 
worship. Cornelius fell down to worship Peter — 
whom they claim as the head of the Church, and from 
whom they claim their succession — but instead of 
cautioning Cornelius that he must not give him di- 
vine worship, but only the lower order, according to 
Rome's teaching — he refused it altogether. So also, 
with the angel before whom John fell down to wor- 
ship. (See Acts x. 25, 26; Rev. xxii. 9.) What a 
splendid opportunity for Peter and the angel to have 
expatiated on the higher and lower forms of worship, 
indicating particularly the kind saints and angels 
might receive without derogating from the divine 
honors, and violating the first command by idolatrous- 
ly setting up other gods. 

The charge of idolatry of the basest sort may be 
proven against Rome by a short account of the scap- 
ular. We quote from the "Scapular Book," which 
we bought from P. J. Kennedy, Catholic Publishing 
House, New York, for 10 cents. 

The scapular is " composed of two small pieces of 
brown woolen cloth, which are worn . as a mark of 
particular devotion to the Mother of God! This de- 
votion was instituted toward the middle of the thir- 
teenth century, and it was in some measure the fruit 
of the prayers of St. Simon Stock." (Page 92.) Of 
course we all know it did not originate wiQi Christ 
or his apostles. 

Now, reader, consider the following arrant bias- 



26 THE DANGEE SIGNAL. 

phemy, and see whether the "One, Holy, Catholic, 
Apostolic Roman Church," as her adorers have mis- 
named her, has in anywise lost her "holiness" or 
fallen into "pernicious errors." If she has not de- 
parted from the word of God, and broken the first 
commandment, then words mean nothing. 

"The holy Virgin, in giving the scapular to St. 
Simon made him a most consoling promise. She 
put no bounds to the confidence of those who should 
wear her habit. In the engagement she made to pro- 
tect them there is no condition. Her words are pre- 
cise. 'Whosoever shall die wearing this habit shall 
not suffer eternal fire' [their italics]. Do you then 
believe that all who die wearing the scapular will be 
preserved from eternal damnation? I answer, yes, 
certainly I believe it, and I see nothing absurd in 
this belief since, according to St. Peter Damian, all 
the mercies of the Lord are in the hands of Mary. 

"But another objection may be raised, which is 
calculated to deceive, as it is clothed in the words of 
the gospel. Jesus Christ himself, say they, teaches 
us that the only means of salvation left to the sinner 
is penance, and that if the impious man die in his 
sins, although he be clothed in the habit of Mary, 
still he will be excluded from admittance into the 
holy city, into which nothing defiled can enter. 

" We might answer this objection by adducing 
many well-authenticated examples which prove that 
Mary has often, on account of the scapular, retained 
unrepentant souls in their wounded and bleeding 
bodies in order to give them time to reconcile them- 
selves with their God." (Pages 107, 108.) 

All the mercies of the Lord in the hands of Mary ! and 



" ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC, APOSTOLIC CHURCH." 27 

behold, she will give them to con/ who will wear two little 
pieces of brown cloth in her name! 

All this, we learn, was set forth in a bull of John 
XXII. dated March 3, 1322. "This is called the 
Sabbatine Bull, which has been approved of by 
Popes Alexander V., Clement VII., Pius V., and 
Gregory XVIII." (Page 97. ) 

This book is issued with all this sacrilegious non- 
sense by the Catholic Publishing House in New York, 
" with the approbation of the Most Kev. John Hughes, 
D.D., late Archbishop of New York." "When a hi- 
erarchy claiming oneness, holiness, catholicity, infal- 
libility, and consequent freedom from pernicious 
errors, sends abroad through the land such bare-faced 
sacrilege as the above, indorsed by her archbishop, 
w^ith a D.D., appended to his name, and her colleges, 
orders, and infallible ( ! ) popes, give their sanction, 
it is certainly time for virtue, intelligence, and script- 
ural Christianity to appear and relegate to shades of 
oblivion these relics of ignorance and pagan supersti- 
tion! In the glorious light of these closing years of 
the nineteenth century Christ is insulted and Almighty 
God supplanted by "two brown pieces of woolen 
cloth," the invention of an ignorant recluse of the 
thirteenth century! And these two little scraps of 
cloth, about the size of a silver dollar, are called the 
"livery of the Mother of God!" 

And how is Mary the mother of Gocf? By the inven- 
tion of idolatrous Catholicism. But was not Mary 
the mother of Jesus? Yes, of his humanity; but not 
of his divinity. Jesus was the Son of man — that is, 
he was a true human being, and as such the son of 
Mary. But his divinity, his Godhead, was, and is, 



28 THE DANGEK SIGNAL. 

one of tlie glorious Trinity, in which sense (his God- 
head) he was not Mary's son. Thus he expresses it 
in the Scriptures: "Before Abraham was, I am." 
(John viii. 58.) In this sense he was not the son of 
Mary, but of God; therefore Mary was not the moth- 
er of God, but of the Son of man. The title Mother 
of God is unscriptural and sacrilegious. But did 
not Elizabeth speak to Mary as " the mother of my 
Lord?" Yes, but she did not call him God here, 
but Lord, which means ruler. Sarah called Abra- 
ham her lord. The humanity of Jesus, exalted by 
his divinity, is raised to the Lordship of the re- 
deemed, but that does not make Mary the " Mother 
of God," but only of the man Jesus. 

2. "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, 
or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, 
or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water 
under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to 
them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a 
jealous God." (Ex. xx. 4, 5.) "Ye shall make you no 
idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing 
image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your 
land, to low clown unto it: for I am the Lord your 
God." (Lev. xxvi. 1.) 

Does not Rome violate this, unequivocal command 
of God's word? For answer re-read the following 
from her creed: "I most firmly assert that the im- 
ages of Christ, of the Mother of God ( !), ever Virgin, 
and also of other Saints, may be had and retained, 
and that clue honor and veneration are to be given 
them." 

The only question for us to decide is: Which is the 
higher authority, the Word of the living God, or the 



"one, holy, catholic, apostolic church." 29 

creed of Eome? for they are in direct conflict. 
Leave it, reader, to heathens and infidels to honor 
Eome in her conflict with God's precious Word, but 
let those who love God hold to the Scriptures of eter- 
nal truth. 

But Rome declares that she does not give divine 
honor, true worship, to images. Still, God says we 
must not make them and bow down to them. Pope 
Constantine, A.D. 708-15, "was the first who assem- 
bled a council to authorize the use of images in 
churches." During the pontificate of Gregory II., 
A.D. 715-31, the wars of the images recommenced 
with new fury. "Leo (the emperor) maintained 
that the adoration paid to paintings and statues was 
the most culpable kind of idolatry, and wished to 
bring the faithful to proscribe a worship condemned 
by the clergy, the grandees, and even the very people 
of Constantinople." The pope replied: "If impious 
wretches accuse the Church of idolatry because she 
venerates images, let them be regarded as dogs, whose 
brayings strike in vain upon the ears of their mas- 
ters." In a letter to the emperor, Gregory used the 
following strong language: "The universal head of 
the Church, the successor of the apostles, the vicar 
of Christ, prays God to send Satan upon earth to 
snatch from* his throne the odious image-breaker." 
("History of the Popes," L, pp. 178-180.) From the 
tone of the pope's letters it has been thought that Sa- 
tan was already on the earth. The pope threatened the 
government with the fury of the Lombards, arrayed 
the superstitious devotees of the Church against the 
emperor's authority, and placed him under the ban 
of the Church. Be v. Dr. T. O. Summers says: "From 



30 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

this period the Eastern emperors never regained their 
authority in Rome." 

D.e Cormenin, in closing his record of Pope Greg- 
ory's reign, remarks: "There have been found priests 
bold enough to place in the rank of saints a pontiff 
who for fifteen years had filled Italy with blood and 
murder, and who had torn from the credulity of the 
people two thousand one hundred and sixty pennies 
of gold to enrich the monks." 

But we must not forget, even in the presence of 
image worship, that Rome is "the mother and mis- 
tress of all Churches;" that she has "always been 
holy" and has "needed no reformation," for she has 
"always been free from pernicious errors," whatever 
may appear to the contrary from the Bible and his- 
tory! Of course her popes cannot do wrong, for 
has not the Vatican Council declared them infallible 
(A.D. 1870)? 

Without following this investigation through the 
Decalogue, let us simply try Rome's holiness and 
freedom from pernicious errors by two others of the 
commandments. 

3. Take the sixth commandment: "Thou shalt not 
kill." (Ex. xx. 13.) 

Now if I charge the "Holy Mother Church " ( ? !) 
with murder, the proof given must be definite and in- 
dubitable. The charge is a strong one; will the facts 
sustain it? 

Under the reign of Pope Leo I., A.D. 440-61, we 
have the following scene drawn by De Cormenin. Ac- 
cusations of heresy had been made against a bishop 
named Priscillian, and he was tried and murdered. 
"The unfortunate heretic was bound with cords and 



"ONE, holy, catholic, apostolic church." 31 

chains; then the priest (!) commenced the interrog- 
atory: 

"'Abjure thy errors, Priscillian; submit thyself to 
the sovereign pontiff of Rome.' 

"The sufferer refusing to reply, the executioner 
made his limbs to crack under the pressure of his 
chains, and plunged both his feet into a heated bra- 
zier. 

"'Abjure thy errors, Priscillian, and glorify Leo, 
the father of the faithful.' 

"Priscillian, during this horrible suffering, ad- 
dressed his prayers to God, and refused still to glo- 
rify the pope. 

"Then the monk charged with the execution gave 
the orders to the executioners to commence (continue) 
the punishment. They tore from him his hair and 
the skin of his skull, they burned with hot iron all 
parts of his body, and poured upon his wounds boil- 
ing oil and melted lead; and at last plunged into his 
entrails a rod heated in the fire, and this martyr ex- 
pired after two hours of frightful suffering." But 
Rome has "always been holy," and has needed "no 
reformation!" 

The historian further says: "The pope not only 
dared to glorify himself for having ordered the pun- 
ishment of Priscillian, but he even wrote to Maximus 
to demand from him his assistance to extend the 
massacres through all the provinces of the empire. 
He expressed himself in these terms: 'My lord, the 
rigor and severity of your justice against this heretic 
and his disciples have been of great aid to the clem- 
ency (!) of the Church. We have heretofore been 
content with the mildness of the judgments which 



THE DANGER SIGNAL. 



the bishops delivered in accordance with the canons, 
and we did not desire bloody executions; now, how- 
ever, we have learned that it is necessary to be aided 
and sustained by the severe constitutions of the em- 
perors, for the fear of religious punishment frequent- 
ly makes heretics recur to a spiritual remedy, which 
can cure their souls from a mortal malady, by a true 
conversion.' " — "History of the Popes" p. 86. 

But we must remind the reader, just here, that Rome 
has "always been holy," and, being "free from perni- 
cious errors," has needed "no reformation." Besides, 
her popes are infallible; they cannot do wrong. 

In wading through these scenes of blood, such of 
our readers as know the sixth commandment, or have 
read that "God is love," and realize that holiness is 
Godlikeness, must be constantly refreshed with the 
sublime truths of Rome's holiness and infallibility; 
or he might forget them amidst the shrieks and 
groans^ of Rome's murdered millions! 

God says, "Thou shalt not kill: " the infallible Pope 
Nicholas I., A.D. 858-67, head of the holy moth- 
er Church, wrote as follows to the King of Bulgaria: 
"You advise us that you have caused your subjects 
to be baptized without their consent, and that you 
have exposed yourself to so violent a revolt as to 
have incurred the risk of your life. I glorify you 
for having maintained your authority, by putting to 
death those wandering sheep who refused to enter 
the fold; and you not only have not sinned by show- 
ing a holy rigor, but I even congratulate you on hav- 
ing opened the kingdom of heaven to the people sub- 
mitted to your rule. A king need not fear to com- 
mand massacres, when these will retain his subjects 



"ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC, APOSTOLIC CHURCH." 33 



in obedience, or cause them to submit to the faith of 
Christ, and God will reward him in this world, and 
in eternal life, for these murders." — De Cormenin. 

Let us hear another brilliant author on Eome and 
bloodshed: "The massacre of St. Bartholomew's day 
in France is a matter of public history. On the oc- , 
casion of certain nuptial festivities in the French 
court, the Protestant noblemen of the nation w r ere 
brought together to be butchered. And they were 
butchered. The best blood of the kingdom ran down 
the gutters into the river. Throughout the land, by 
secret orders from the king, Protestants were given 
to the knife. Some estimates put the number of vic- 
tims at one hundred thousand; others as low as 
thirty thousand. 

" But how was the news received in Rome ? ' When 
the letters of the pope's legate were read in the as- 
sembly of the cardinals, by which he assured the 
pope that all w T as transacted by the express will and 
command of the king, it was immediately decreed 
that the pope should march with his cardinals to the 
Church of St. Mark, and in the most solemn manner 
give thanks to God for so great a blessing conferred on 
the See of Pome and the Christian world!' 

"On the following Mpnday mass w r as celebrated in 
honor of the event. They ordained, also, a universal 
jubilee, that thanks might be given and rejoicings 
celebrated everywhere for the destruction of the ene- 
mies of the truth and the Church in France. Thus 
was the whole Eomish Church committed to the 
butchery of St. Bartholomew's Day. /Innocent men, 
collected on a festive occasion, under fraudulent pro- 
fessions of friendship and safety, are treacherously 
3 



34 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

given to slaughter, and 'the Church ' indorses the de- 
ception and the murder, and rejoices greatly in it. 
This is the infallible Church— the Church that never 
errs, and can never retract!" — Bishop E. M. Marvin, 
in "Errors of the Papacy" 

Rome's cruelties Lave not all been exercised on 
Protestants, but she has shed the blood of her own 
sons. Popes have anathematized and cruelly mur- 
dered bishops, priests, and popes. 

Urban VI. had a quarrel with Queen Joanna, of 
Naples, and had her murdered by Charles Durazzo, 
who took the crown. He then branded Charles as a 
traitor to the Holy See. This maddened the king, 
and he marched against him with his troops. The 
pope was in Nocera, and he w T ould parade the walls 
and pour forth impetuous torrents of his papal anath- 
emas against the king and his troops. 

"Some cardinals, who, having long adhered to his 
cause, began at last to chafe under the caprice and 
obstinacy of the pontiff, were the next objects of 
his vengeance. While residing at Nocera he caused 
them to be seized, imprisoned, and tortured; and the 
historian reflects with just indignation on the hy- 
pocrisy and cruelty of the tyrant, wdio ' could walk 
in his garden and recite his breviary, whilst he heard 
from an adjacent chamber the groans of his victims 
on the rack.' /On leaving Nocera he took these car- 
dinals with him in chains, and on arriving at Genoa 
he had them privately executed. Some say that they 
were thrown into the sea in sacks; others, that they 
were strangled in prison."— Summers's "Lives of the 
Popes." 

Constantine II. was elevated to the papal throne 



"ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC, APOSTOLIC CHURCH." 35 

by intrigue, A.D. 767. It was not long, however, till 
he was forcibly ejected and the execrable Stephen 
IV. was proclaimed Bishop of Rome, "the end of ail 
his intrigues, the recompense of all his machinations." 
The Romans confessed to the new pontiff their sin in 
elevating to the tiara the now deposed Constantine, 
imploring pardon, and demanding the punishment of 
the guilty leaders. The course pursued is described 
as follows: 

" The new pontiff immediately gave orders to put 
out the eyes and tear out the tongue of Bishop Theo- 
dore, the vidame, the friend of the deposed pope. 
After his punishment the unfortunate mutilated was 
dragged to the convent of Mount Scaurus and thrown 
into a dungeon, where the monks allowed him to die 
of starvation. 

" Stephen then delivered up to his soldiers the un- 
fortunate Passif, who was guilty of no crime except 
that of belonging to the family of Constantine. These 
minions of a tyrant overwhelmed him with outrages, 
despoiled him of his garments, beat him with rods, 
tore out his eyes, and plunged him, all bleeding, into 
the dungeons of the monastery of St. Sylvester. 

"All these executions did not calm the fury of 
Stephen, and like a tiger, whose rage increases in the 
midst of carnage, he assisted at the torture of his 
enemies, commanded the massacres, and daily pointed 
out new victims! 

"At the head of his Levites, the pontiff forced. his 
way into the abbey, into which Constantine — the ex- 
pope — had been conducted by the magistrates of 
Rome, and pursued him even into the sanctuary. By 
his orders they drew him from the altar, which he 



36 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

had embraced, placed liim upon a horse, with enor- 
mous weights suspended to his feet, led him through 
the streets of the city, and conducted him to the 
public square, where the executioner put out his eyes 
with a hot iron. After the punishment, Constantine 
was cast into the mud, trampled under foot by the 
executioners, and remained there twenty-four hours 
exposed to frightful sufferings without any assist- 
ance, Stephen having prohibited the citizens from 
giving any aid to the dying man under penalty of the 
gallows. On the second day, as the sufferer was still 
alive, the murmurs of the people compelled the 
priests to take up their unfortunate victim, who was 
carried into a monastery." — "History of the Popes" /., 
196-198. 

In all the annals of heathenish darkness and pagan 
cruelty, where can other records be found that for 
insatiable blood-thirstiness and unmitigated cruelty 
can equal the above? And yet those popes are held 
up to the world as vicars of Christ; yea, usurping the 
very place of Jesus Christ, they call themselves the 
head of the Church! All who are outside of Rome's 
communion are branded as infidels, or heretics and 
the Church boldly relegates such to the torments of 
perdition, while she withal is the "One, Holy, Catho- 
lic, Apostolic Church," which has always been holy 
and free from pernicious errors, and has had no need 
of reformation! 

4. " Thou shalt not commit adultery'' (Ex. xx. 14) 

Let Rome's record be sifted in the above scripture, 
the seventh commandment. 

With Rome the pope is the head of the Church. 
Her infallibility has its source in him. Have the 



"one, holy, catholic, apostolic church." 37 

popes all lived pure lives? This is a stunning ques- 
tion. Its investigation will take us through cess-rx>ols 
of filth and unfathomed depths of corruption. If free 
of crime here, Rome will come out of even the most 
thorough investigations unscathed; but if she be 
guilty, while claiming such immaculateness, it is but 
right, and to the glory of God, that her hypocritical 
boastings be punctured. 

De Cormenin tells us how far the idea of penance 
was carried in the fifth century: "The exaltation of 
the faithful was then carried to such an extreme for, 
macerations that fanatics entered into ditches, only 
keeping their heads above them, and waited for death, 
in this position. Others made a vow not to wear any 
clothing; they remained entirely naked, exposed to 
the heat of summer and the cold of winter; men and 
women lived in herds like beasts, and slept at night, 
pell-mell in grottoes, in form of a stable, in order to 
exercise themselves in conquering all kinds of temp- 
tations!"— "History of the Popes;' L, 79. 

Quite a risk on the line of temptation, this looks 
like, to Protestants. 

Of Pope Yigilius, A.D. 537-55, our historian de- 
clares: "History represents him as a man of unmeas- 
ured ambition, capable of committing all crimes to 
elevate himself to power. ' His character,' writes an 
author of that day, ' was violent .and passionate; in 
a burst of rage he killed, with blows with a club, a 
young child who refused his infamous caresses.' Be- 
sides, the course of his life was a long train of per- 
fidy, debauchery, and crime, and yet the priests have 
placed this monster among the saints of the Church." 
—Ibid., 112. i 



38 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

"During the pontificate of John III., A.D. 560-573, 
two bishops of the kingdom of Gon trail scandalized 
the community by their abominable lives. The prince 
assembled a council at Lyons which declared the two 
prelates deposed for the crimes of adultery, rape, and 
murder. Instead of submitting to this decision, the 
two prelates accused the synod of having exceed- 
ed its powers, and appealed from it to the pope, who 
had the boldness to re-install them in their sees. 
Thus the court of Eome justified the most condemna- 
ble actions when those who committed them aided in 
augmenting the pontifical power! "—Ibid., 120. 

Sergius III., a corrupt, licentious wretch, a para- 
mour of the vile Theodora, was elevated to the papal 
throne by her husband, Adelbert, Duke of Lucca, a 
man of wealth and great influence. Not satisfied with 
the caresses of Theodora, the pope also kept as his 
mistress her daughter, Marozia,. a woman as depraved 
as her abominable mother. Two other popes, Anas- 
tasius III. and Lando, were also elevated to the tiara 
by the influence of these courtesans. 

John X. was another of Theodora's lovers wdio 
reached the pontificate through her influence. The 
vicious daughter, Marozia, w 7 as jealous of the pontiff's 
greater attention to her mother than to herself, and 
she succeeded in having him imprisoned and violent- 
ly killed. 

After the death of Guido, Marozia' s husband, she 
married Hugh, King of Burgundy. He " was as licen- 
tious as his wife; both indulged their guilty passions 
without restraint; and as they gave to the papal chair 
what occupants they pleased, we may be sure that the 
qualification for the popedom would not now be piety, 



"ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC, APOSTOLIC CHUKCH." 39 

nor even morality or learning, but a congeniality of 
taste and habits in sensuality and vice. 

"The power of Marozia at Rome being now at its 
height, she gave the tiara, in 931, to her son, Octavian, 
who acknowledged Pope Sergius III. as his father, 
and who was then just twenty years of age." He as- 
sumed the name of John XL 

His brother Alberic raised an insurrection, drove 
his step-father, Hugh, from the city, and imprisoned 
his mother, Marozia. John XI. died in prison, it is 
thought by violence, after two years. 

Several popes served short terms till 956. The 
consul, Alberic, considered his eighteen-year-old son, 
Octavian, mature enough to wear the honors of the 
papacy, and secured his election. "This profligate 
youth surpassed, if it were possible to surpass, his 
predecessors in his utter disregard not merely for 
religion, but of the commonest forms of morality. 
Truth, honor, decency were all shamefully defied. 
Hardly a vice could be named of which he w T as not 
guilty. The gold and silver vessels belonging to St. 
Peter's were given as presents to his mistresses and 
other companions in sensual pleasures; the female 
pilgrims who visited Rome were decoyed to the 
Lateran and ruined; the treasures of the See were 
squandered away in gambling of every kind; the 
very show of divine worship was abandoned altogeth- 
er, or indecently hurried through; and the audacious 
pope did not scruple publicly to invoke the pagan de- 
ities, and mockingly to drink at his revels to the 
health of the devil." — "Lives of the Popes'' edited by T. 
0. Summers, /., 170-173. 

John was finally deposed by a council, and was 



40 THE DANGEK SIGNAL. 

killed by the husband of a woman with whom he was 
caught in adultery — "in the very act" 

" Like priest, like people." With such a corrupt set 
of popes, what could be expected of the priesthood 
and laity? De Cormenin tells us that in the eighth 
century "the bishops shut up in their episcopal resi- 
dences courtesans and eunuchs, under pretext of wish- 
ing to convert the Arabs by conforming to their 
manners, but in reality to continue more easily a life 
of shame and debauchery." — "History of the Popes" I., 
205. 

The same author, speaking of the ninth century, 
says: "The priests of the holy city were abandoned 
to the most unbridled licentiousness; they lived pub- 
licly with courtesans, and kept houses of debauchery, 
in which men disputed with women the wages of im- 
purity." Again: " The men and women lived togeth- 
er in the same convents, abandoning themselves with- 
out any remorse to the most shameless debauchery, 
licentiousness, drunkenness, and idleness." — "History 
of the Popes," L, 205, 212. 

Now, beloved reader, hear the words of Pope Pius 
IX. and the Vatican Council, as late in the world as 
A.D. 1870. "The Roman pontiff possesses the pri- 
macy over the entire world; he is the successor of the 
blessed Peter, the prince of the apostles, and he is 
the vicar of Christ, the head of the whole Church, 
and the father and teacher of all Christians." 

Only think of Rome boasting a chain that reaches 
back through infallible men (!) to the apostles. And 
lo! when the chain is examined, you find such links 
as the infamous Popes Sergius III., John VIII., John 
X., Benedict IX., Boniface VII., etc., too numerous to 



" ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC, APOSTOLIC CHURCH." 41 

attempt a minute examination of their blasphemies, 
murders, and adulteries! Borne is certainly hard 
pushed for infallibility, holiness, and universal su- 
premacy to make use of these monsters of iniquity to 
. construct her apostolic chain and justify her unmeas- 
ured insolence! 

We could prepare many volumes on the licentious- 
ness and general corruptness of Romanism; but to 
the facts given we need add but one more in this con- 
nection. Illustrative incidents abound in history, and 
others may be given in the progress of this work. 
One other will be sufficient for this argument. It is 
from De Cormenin. He is on the reign of Pope Sixtus 
IV., 1471-1484: "If the pontiff did not exhibit him- 
self as the most generous toward men of letters, by 
way of compensation, he showed himself the ardent 
protector of- the courtesans of Home, and Cornelius 
Agrippa relates very gravely that his Holiness found- 
ed several noble lupanars, which were under his pro- 
tection, and in which each girl was taxed a golden 
Julius a week." "This impost brought in more than, 
twenty thousand ducats a year," adds the historian. 
* Prostitutes were placed in these resorts of depravity 
by the prelates of the apostolic court, who levied a 
certain tax upon their products, and it was a custom 
so universally practiced at that period that I have 
heard bishops in counting up their revenues say: 'I 
have two benefices which are worth to me three 
thousand ducats a year, a cure which brings me in 
five hundred, a priory which is worth to me three 
hundred, and five prostitutes in the pope's lupanars 
which bring me in two hundred and fifty.'" — "His- 
tory of the Popes" IL, 145. 



4:2 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

If it be objected against these arguments that any 
man, minister or layman, is liable to fall into sin, we 
readily grant it. But when Protestants fail into 
crimes and sins, there is enough respect for God and 
the Bible to generally expel them. But Borne has un- 
blushingly elevated her bastards, blood-thirsty crimi- 
nals, bloated debauchees, and putrid libertines to her 
highest ministerial functions; yea, even to the pon- 
tiff's throne. Protestantism blushes with unmeasured 
shame at the occasional crimes of blood and lust that 
mar the records of her disenthrallment from papal 
tyranny. But Borne comes arrogantly to the front, 
and in these present years of light and freedom pub- 
lishes to the world that she is "the mother and mis- 
tress of all Churches; " that she has always been holy 
and free from pernicious errors," and "has never need- 
ed any reformation! " 

Beader, consider the foregoing historical records 
and then study this prophecy from the Apocalypse: 
"And there came one of the seven angels which had 
the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, 
Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment 
of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters; 
with whom the kings of the earth have committed 
fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have 
been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. 
So he carried me away in the spirit into the wil- 
derness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet col- 
ored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having sev- 
en heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed 
in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and 
precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in 
her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her 



"ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC, APOSTOLIC CHURCH." 43 

fornication: and upon her forehead was a name writ- 
ten, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE 
MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS 
OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken 
w 7 ith the blood of the saints, and with the blood of 
the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wan- 
dered with great admiration." (Rev. xyii. 1-6.^ 



Infallibility. 



This doctrine has long been a tenet of Eomanism, 
though it was scarcely known in Catholic circles who 
was charged with its keeping and exercise, till the 
Vatican Council, in 1870, settled it on tlie pope. 
Popes had claimed infallibility prior to that, but I do 
not know that it was always conceded to them in the 
Church. 

For a better understanding of the subject we give 
Mr. Webster's definition: "Infallibility — the quality 
of being incapable of error or mistake; entire exemp- 
tion from liability to error; inerrability." Bold 
enough to differ from Rome, Mr. W. adds: "No hu- 
man being can justly lay claim to infallibility. This 
•is an attribute of God only." It would seem that all 
men would fully agree with the learned lexicographer; 
but no, the Romish Church elects a fallible man to 
her pontifical throne, by the votes of fallible elect- 
ors, and lo! the pope becomes at once infallible! 
Strange transformation! To common people it would 
seem that he who was fallible before his election 
would be fallible after. But if election makes men 
infallible, it seems that some process by which more 
Romanists and Protestants alike may be made popes 
would be a great boon to the world. 

Infallibility, like omniscience, belongs necessarily 
to God. He alone is infinite. He only has all power. 
As man is limited — even popes— in knowledge, power, 
(44) 



INFALLIBILITY. 45 



and space, so lie must be liable to err, and therefore 
not infallible. But Catholics tell us that the pope is 
only infallible when speaking ex cathedra > which 
means in his official capacity. Well, this is a little 
strange. Just how it happens that his infallibility 
comes one day or hour and slips away the next I 
know not. Infallible in the morning while presid- 
ing over a council, or issuing an anathema for time 
and eternity against some poor heretic, but as fallible 
as other poor sinners in the evening, while engaged 
in some feast or revel! 

It seems like wasting time and labor to argue against 
such an unreasonable and unscripiural assumption as 
papal infallibility. But as this is the basis upon 
winch Rome, builds her pretensions to universal su- 
premacy, on this the pope claims to be father and 
teacher of all Christians, we urge against it the fol- 
lowing objections: 

1. It is usurping a prerogative that belongs only to 
God. 

" The Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous 
God." (Ex. xxxiv. 14.) The pope's claim of infalli- 
bility gives him a lordship over God's heritage in 
which God's honor is sacrificed. Christ tell us of 
those who love chief places and great titles, and says: 
" Be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even 
Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man 
your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, 
which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: 
for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is 
greatest among you shall be your servant." (Matt, 
xxiii. 8-11.) 

Borne calls her priests "father" in direct violation 



46 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

of this plain scripture. Pope {papa) means father, 
and he claims the supremacy (lordship) over all 
Christians. Jesus says: "One is your Father, which 
is in heaven." But Rome disputes this, claiming the 
pope as the "Father and teacher of all Christians," 
and teaches all her followers to call the priest, not 
"brother," but "father." Not yet satisfied, -the pope 
must be held up as the lord and master of all men. 
The Roman Catholic vows: "I promise true obedi- 
ence to the Bishop of Rome, successor to St. Peter, 
prince of the apostles, and vicar of Jesus Christ." 
The pope must be infallible to usurp the place of 
Jesus Christ in the Church on earth, so Rome has 
laid claim to this divine prerogative for pontifical 
uses, and she sins thereby in robbing God of his 

2. We reject the dogma of papal infallibility because of 
the intrigues used in the election of many popes. 

It is a notorious fact that the pontifical chair has 
been often secured by scheming and trickery of the 
vilest sort. It has been obtained by bribery, threats, 
chicanery, and force. John X. was "raised by the 
influence of the profligate Theodora, to the sees of 
Bologna and Ravenna, and in 914 to the bishopric of 
Rome." " John XIX., 1024-1003, was a layman when 
he grasped the tiara, by force and bribery, after 
the death of his brother, Benedict VIII., and re- 
ceived on one day all the ecclesiastical orders." John 
XXII. was deposed by a Roman synod as a heretic, 
and Nicholas V. elected in his place. " John XXIIL, 
a Neapolitan of fine talents but corrupt morals, died 
December 22, 1419. He secured, by bribes and 
threats, his election, on May 19, 1410, to the papal 



INFALLIBILITY. 47 



throne. He was deposed, and imprisoned in Heidel- 
burg; but escaping, he fell at the feet of Martin V. 
and was made cardinal-bishop of Tusculum." — "Schaff- 
Herzog Encyclopedia" Art. "John." 

" Immediately after the death of Stephen X. the 
nobility of Rome, with the Count of Tusculum at their 
head, enthroned by force Benedict X. in the night be- 
tween April 4 and 5, 1058." But through the efforts 
of Hildebrand and others, Gerhard, of Burgundy, 
"was elected,* and assumed the name of Nicholas II. 
A few months later on Benedict was compelled to 
submit and renounce his office." — Ibid., Art. "Nicho- 
las." 

"After the death of John XIX. the faction of the 
marquises and counts of Tuscanella endeavored to 
place one of the members of their family on 'the Holy 
See. Intrigues, money, and threats procured the 
election of Theophylactus, nephew of the two pre- 
ceding popes, and the son of Alberic, Count of Tuscu- 
lum. He was enthroned at the age of twelve under 
the name of Benedict the Ninth. This pontiff soiled 
the chair of St. Peter with so many crimes and de- 
baucheries that Cardinal Benno accuses him of hav- 
ing employed witchcraft and enchantment, and of 
having given to his mistresses love-philters, which 
rendered them desperately emamored of his person. 
He affirms that he sacrificed to demons, and assisted 
at the assemblies of magicians, in the woods at 
night"— "History of the Popes," I., 328. 

Of course not all the popes have been elected by 
such condemnable methods, but enough of them have 
to break the papal chain of infallibility and succes- 
sion. "We have barely touched the record in this 



48 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

sliort statement. Scores of cases of intrigue might 
be produced. Such popes, scheming for place, pop- 
ularity, and power, are certainly very poor conduct- 
ors of divine wisdom and grace, which are surely es- 
sentials to infallibility. Men may have grace and 
wisdom without being infallible, but surely no one is 
infallible without these elements of character infused 
by the Holy Spirit. 

3. I argue the claim to papal infallibility false from 
the ambition and avaricioiisness of many of the popes and 
their allies. 

The disciples had a quarrel as to who should be 
greatest (Luke xxii. 24), and Jesus taught them hu- 
mility, and illustrated it by a little child (Matt, xviii. 
1-5). Again he tells us: " Whosoever shall exalt him- 
self shall be abased; and he that shall humble him- 
self shall be exalted." (Matt, xxiii. 12.) 

The Bible also condemns the money-loving spirit 
which has so commonly characterized the popes: 
"For the love of money is the root of all evil: which 
while some coveted after, they have erred from the 
faith, and pierced themselves through with many sor- 
rows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; 
and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, 
patience, meekness." (1 Tim. vi. 10, 11.) 

Of Adrian I., 772-795, we read the following: "Av- 
rice was his ruling passion; and notwithstanding the 
expense at which he was in the construction of con- 
vents and churches, he left immense wealth to his 
successor." Offa, the Mercian king, murdered King 
Ethelbert apparently in cold blood. He sought ab- 
solution from the pope for this crime. "The pope, 
turning the fanaticism of the prince to the profit of 



INFALLIBILITY. 49 



his avarice, would not consent to reconcile him with 
heaven except on condition that he should authorize 
the laws of Peter's pence in his domains, and found re- 
ligious retreats of which the (un) holy father should 
sell the benefices. Offa, assured of his eternal sal- 
vation, returned to his kingdom, constructed several 
monasteries in- honor of St. Alban and other inhab- 
itants of the skies, and, in conformity with his prom- 
ise, placed the revenues at the disposal of the sover- 
eign pontiff."— "History of the Popes;' L, 207. 

"During the ministry of Hubert (A.D. 1229) the 
papacy, exhausted by the long struggle with Fred- 
erick the Second, grew more and more extortionate 
in its demands, till the death of Langton saAV theni 
culminate in a demand of a tenth from the whole 
realm of England. The demand w r as at once rejected 
by the baronage, but a threat of excommunication 
silenced the murmurs of the clergy. Exaction fol- 
lowed exaction, the very rights of the lay patrons 
were set aside, the presentations to benefices (under 
the name of ' reserves ' ) were sold in the papal mar- 
ket, while Italian clergy were quartered on the best 
livings of the Church." — Green's "History of the En- 
glish People" p. 167. 

Again we quote this author ( A.D. 1243-1246) : " The 
scourge of papal taxation fell again on the clergy. 
After vain appeals to Rome and to the king, Arch- 
bishop Edmund retired to an exile of despair at Pon- 
tigny, and tax-gatherer after tax-gatherer, with pow- 
ers of excommunication, suspension from orders, and 
presentation to benefices, descended on the unhappy 
priesthood. The wholesale pillage kindled a wide 
spirit of resistance. Oxford gave the signal by hunt- 
4 



50 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

ing the papal legate, Otho, out of the city amid cries 
of ' usurer ' and ' simoniac ' from the mob of students. 
Fulk Fitz-Warenne, in the name of the barons, bid 
Martin, a papal collector, begone out of England. 'If 
you tarry three days longer,' he added, 'you and your 
company shall be cut to pieces.'" 

"The old reverence for the papacy faded away be- 
fore the universal resentment at its political ambi- 
tions, its ruthless exactions, its lavish use of interdict 
and excommunication for purely secular ends, its 
degradation of the most sacred sentences into means 
of financial extortion." 

" The abuses of the time foiled even the energy of 
Grosseteste.* His constitutions forbid the clergy to 
haunt taverns, to gamble, to share in drinking-bouts, 
to mix in the riot and debauchery of the life of the 
baronage. But his prohibitions only witness to the 
prevalence of the evils they denounce. Bishops and 
deans were withdrawn from their ecclesiastical duties 
to act as ministers, judges, or embassadors. Ben- 
efices were heaped in hundreds at a time on royal 
favorites, like John Mansel. The popes thritst boys 
of twelve years old into the wealthiest English liv- 
ings. Abbeys absorbed the tithes of parishes, and 
then served them by half -starved vicars. Exemptions 
purchased from Borne shielded the scandalous lives 
of canons and monks from all episcopal discipline." — 
Bid., pp. 169, 170, 172. 

What countries have not suffered morally, mentally, 
and financially from papal corruption and avarice? 

"John XV., 983-996, was expelled from Borne by 

* Bishop of Lincoln, "the noblest among English prelates.'' 



INFALLIBILITY. 51 



John Crescentius, but managed to return and to fill 
his private coffers with the wealth of the Church." 
"John XXIII. deprived the towns of the right of 
electing their bishops, and left behind an immense 
sum of money which he had accumulated by annats 
and otherwise." — Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia. 

To this day the popes are characterized as full of 
ambition and avarice. The pope generally rules over 
poor subjects, bat his income runs, it is estimated, 
into the hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. 

As to the unbridled ambition of " the Holy Mother 
Church," De Cormenin speaks thus: "Death is a ref- 
uge always ready, always assured against (political) 
tyranny. But it is not so with religious authority; 
the priests wish to oppress in this world, and to pur- 
sue their victims even beyond the tomb. They wish 
to reign over the thoughts, to govern the convictions, 
to arrogate to themselves the power of commanding- 
souls; and they exact that men, whether living or 
dead, should submit to their detestable omnipotence 
(infallibility )."— "History of the Popes;' L, 281. 
. Hallam, treating this subject, says that as early as 
the fourth century: " Coveteousness, especially, be- 
came almost a characteristic vice." "A torrent of 
opulence poured in upon the Church." "The canon- 
ical penances imposed upon repentant offenders, ex- 
travagantly severe in themselves, were commuted for 
money or for immovable possessions; a fertile though 
scandalous source of monastic wealth, which the 
popes afterward diverted into their own coffers by 
the usage of dispensations and indulgences." He 
says: "'But for certain drawbacks, the clergy must, 
one would imagine, have almost acquired the exclu- 



52 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

sive property of the soil. They did enjoy nearly one- 
half in England, and, I believe, a greater proportion 
in some countries of Europe." — "Middle Ages" 263, 
265. 

In his "History of the Popes," I., 281, De Cor- 
xnenin declares: "When a priest has fixed upon an 
end, and that end is authority, all the means of ar- 
riving at it are proper. If he meets with obstacles, 
he tramples on them or breaks them down; justice, 
honor, morality, are for him of no value; good faith 
is dupery, the devotedness of madness, and probity a 
crime. Relatives, friends, men or women, he sacri- 
fices all; decieves or corrupts all who surround him." 

This is a dark picture of Rome to be drawn by the 
hand of her son; not a partisan, a Protestant antag- 
onist. It shows she had forfeited his respect by her 
ungodly ambition, avarice, and perfidy. It is a sad 
truth that Home's corruptions have been the fruitf ul 
source of infidelity. Such men as Voltaire, Gibbon, 
Hume, etc., were turned from Christianity by the 
corruptness of "the Holy Mother Church," a title 
she vainly boasts. Still, through all this pride and 
tyranny, we are asked to look for infallible popes! 

Of Adrian II., 867-872, we read this graphic de- 
scription: "This pope, whose hypocrisy and false 
humility had elevated him to the Holy See, proved 
himself still more haughty in his pride, more perfid- 
ious in his policy, and more insatiable in his ambi- 
tion than Pope Nicholas; but we should remember 
that these vices were those which belonged to a sov- 
ereign pontiff of Borne! " 

If pride, perfidy, and insatiable ambition were the 
common vices of the popes, it takes an unwarranted 



INFALLIBILITY. 53 



stretch of the "charity that thinketh no evil " to even 
imagine them possessed of infallibility, ex cathedra or 
otherwise. 

4. Their heresies, as shown by their differences in doc- 
trine, prove them not infallible. 

We do not attempt here to test their heresies by the 
Bible. By this test they would all prove to be here- 
tics on many points. But since two infallible men 
would not affirm contrary doctrines, we will test their 
inability to err by their contradictions. The Holy 
See has been " soiled by heretical, apostate, incestu- 
ous, and assassin popes. Was not St. Clement an 
Arian, Anastasius a Nestorian, Honorius a Monothe- 
lite, John XXII. an atheist? and did not Sylvester 
II. say he had sold his soul to the devil to become 
pope? "—"History of the Popes" I., 231. 

"Gregory, surnamed the Great, about the conclu- 
sion of the sixth century, says: 'I confidently say 
that whosoever calls himself the universal priest, or 
desires to be so called in his arrogance, is the fore- 
runner of antichrist.' — Greg. Max., Ep. lib. VI., ep. 30. 

"Gregory VII. declares 'that the Roman pontiff 
alone can be properly called universal. Innocent I. 
and his followers, till Pope Gelasius, asserted the 
communion of infants as necessary, which was con- 
demned by subsequent popes. Popes Leo and Ge- 
lasius condemned communion in one kind, while all 
modern popes enjoin it.' 

"Gregory the Great condemns the worship of im- 
ages, the title of Universal Bishop, and the canonicity 
of the Books of Maccabees. Stephen VII. annulled 
all the acts of Formosus, one of his predecessors. 
John IX. his successor, in a council held at Ravenna 



54 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

(some say Rome), annulled Stephen's acts with ref- 
erence to Formosus.' 

"Some popes acknowledged their own fallibility. 
Innocent IV. taught that a pope is not to be obeyed 
when his commands are heretical. (He did not know 
they were infallible, it seems!) Urban V., Gregory 
IX,, and Clement VI. disavowed every thing which 
they had advanced contrary to 'the faith' either in 
consistory or in council.* (See Barrow on 'Suprem- 
acy,' pp. 393-400; Ousley, p. 134, for several instances 
of striking disagreement ) Pope Vigilius erred as 
pope when he first condemned and then approved the 
decision of the Fifth General Council: 

"Pope Liberius, in the fourth century, erred as 
pope in condemning Athanasius, and in consenting 
to the heretical faith of the Arians, and holding com- 

*De Cormenin, speaking of Clement VI., says: "The holy fa- 
ther then appeared to be no longer assured of his own infallibil- 
ity, and published a bull which contained this singular avowal : 
* If, since we have been elevated to the papacy, we have advanced 
in our writings or language propositions contrary to religion or 
morals, we revoke them, and submit them to the correction of 
our successor/ 

"The reply to this bull was not delayed, and on the next day 
a letter was sent to him, written in characters of fire on black 
vellum : ' Beelzebub, prince of darkness, to Pope Clement, his 
vicar: Your mother,. Pride, salutes you; your sisters, Knavery, 
Avarice, and Shamelessness ; and your brothers, Incest, Robbery, 
and Murder, thank you for having caused them to pro-per. 
Given from the center of hell, amid the acclamations of a troop 
of demons, and in the presence of two hundred damned (lost) 
popes, who wait your presence with impatience/ This letter 
was- attributed to the Metropolitan of Milan, John Visconte, to 
whom the pope had sold the investiture of Bologna for a thou- 
sand florins of gold. Clement died on the 6th of December, 
1352."— ''History of the Popes;' IL } 65, 66. 



INFALLIBILITY. 55 






munion with them. On this account he was anathe- 
matized by Hilary. ('Dupin,' I., 190.) If it be said 
that popes who erred were no popes, it does not re- 
lieve the case, for then there were no popes for centu- 
ries, and since it is now defined that the infallibility 
of the Church resides in the popes, then for centuries 
there was no infallibility in the Church." — Rev. T. P. 
Haley, "Popular Lectures" 2S2. 

Our excellent author might have added that as in- 
fallibility is dependent on succession when the chain 
was broken the w r onclrous prize was irretrievably lost. 
In fact, to maintain the infallible succession, each 
pope should ordain his successor, else when the reign- 
ing pontiff who holds the divine gift dies, it is lost, 
and the next successor to St. Peter has to receive his 
infallibility from fallible men! A rather fallible 
source of infallibility! 

5. We reject the infallibility of the popes because of 
their personal quarrels, hatred, and corruptness. 

The contentions, wranglings, and animosities of 
some popes among themselves is a notorious fact in 
their history. Quotations and references are unnec- 
essary to such as are familiar with the annals of Ro- 
man Catholicism, but for many of my readers a little 
insight into popish quarrels will assist to an under- 
standing of our proposition. 

I quote from Dr. Samuel Edgar, whose investiga- 
tions in this line have been very thorough. He 
says: "Omitting the intermediate distractions in 
the papacy, the nineteenth schism deformed the ec- 
clesiastical reigns of Benedict, Sylvester, and John. 
Benedict was son to Alberic, Count of Tuscany; and 
in 1033 was raised to the pontifical throne in the 



56 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

tenth, or some say in the twelfth, year of his age. 
His promotion was the effect of simony, and his life 
was a scene of pollution. His days were spent in 
debauchery. He dealt, says Benno, in sorcery, and 
sacrificed to demons. 

"Such was the miscreant who for ten years w T as, 
according to the popish system, the head of the 
Church, the judge of controversy, and, in deciding on 
questions of faith, the organ of inspiration. A Ro- 
man faction, however, in 1044, headed by Consul 
Ptolemy, expelled Benedict, and substituted Sylves- 
ter. But Sylvester's reign lasted only a short time. 
The Tuscan faction in three months expelled Syl- 
vester and restored Benedict. Benedict soon resigned 
in favor of John. He was induced to retire to avoid 
the public odium caused by his miscreancy, and to 
enjoy a freer indulgence in licentiousness and sensu- 
ality. Led by this view 7 , the vicar-general of God 
(according to Borne) sold the papacy for £1,500 to 
John. Benedict then departed, with the price of the 
papal chair, to private life, to continue his debauch- 
ery. Sylvester, in the meantime, resolved to re-assert 
his right to the pontifical throne, and took possession 
of the Vatican. Benedict, weary of privacy, renewed 
his claim, and seized, by dint of arms, on the Latcran. 
These three ruffians, therefore, Sylvester, John, and 
Benedict, on this unexampled occasion occupied St. 
Mary's, the Vatican, and the Lateran, and fixed their 
head-quarters in the principal basilics of the Roman 
capital. 'A three-headed Beast,' says Binius and 
Labbe, 'rising from the gates of hell, infested in a 
woful manner the holy chair.' A three-headed mon- 
ster, therefore, emerging from the portals of the in- 



INFALLIBILITY. 57 



fernal pit, constituted a link in the sacred unbroken 
chain of the pontifical succession." — "Variations of 
Popery," 79, 80. 

But the papal sun would shine with greater splen- 
dor by far than it does, were these even a tithe of her 
dissensions. They simply constitute a salesman's 
sample, while her historical warehouses are crowded 
with the spirit of strife, contentions, wranglings, ha- 
tred, and debauchery. 

But we will hear Dr. Edgar again: "The great 
western schism, which constituted the twenty-ninth 
division in the popedom, troubled the ecclesiastical 
reigns of Urban, Boniface, Innocent, Gregory, Clem- 
ent, and Benedict. This contest began in 1378, and 
distracted Christendom for half a century with atroc- 
ity and revolution." 

Elsewhere he says of this period of Komish fra- 
ternity (! ): "The schism spread dissension, animos- 
ity, demoralization, and war through the European 
nations; and especially through Italy, France, Spain, 
and Germany. . . . The pontiffs pursued their 
several interests, often without policy, and always 
without principle. The pontifical conscience evapo- 
rated in ambition and malignity. . , . / Paper and 
ink, says Niem, would fail to recount the cabals and 
iniquity of the rival pontiffs, who were hardened in 
obduracy, and full of the machinations of Satan. 
High and low, prince and people, abjured all shame 
and fear of God. The belligerents who waged the 
war carried it on by unchristian machinations, which 
disgraced reason and man. /The arms used on the 
occasion were excommunication, anathemas, deposi- 
tion, perjury, prevarication, duplicity, proscription, / 



58 THE DANGEK SIGNAL. 

saints, miracles, revelations, dreams, visions, the rack, 
the stiletto, and the dagger." 

After describing the work of the councils, he says : 
" The holy pontiffs next encountered each other in 
the war of excommunication. Urban and Clement, 
says Alexander, hurled mutual execrations and anath- ' 
emas. These (so-called) vicegerents of God cursed 
one another indeed with sincere devotion. His Holi- 
ness at Rome hailed his Holiness at Avignon with 
direful imprecations; and the Christian (!) and po- 
lite ( ! ) salutation was returned with equal piety and 
fervor. /The thunder of anathemas, almost without 
interruption, continued, in redoubled volleys and re- 
ciprocal peals, to roar between the Tiber and the 
Rhone. These rival vice-gods, in the language of 
Pope Paul, unsatisfied with mutual excommunica- 
tions, proceeded w T ith distinguished ability to draw 
full-length portraits of each other. Each denom- 
inated his fellow a son of Belial, and described with 
graphic skill his antichristianity, schism, heresy, 
thievery, despotism, and treachery." — "Variations of 
'PopenJ," 81, 82, 83, 84. 

We ask this question: "Where was papal infallibil- 
ity during all these years of strife, animosity, cursing, 
intriguing, and fraud? It will surely take an infal- 
lible pope, assisted by an infallible council, to find 
even a mustard-seed grain of infallibility amidst the 
unchristian and unexampled indecencies of popish 
strife and contention that mar the history of Chris- 
tendom through the long dark night of papal su- 
premacy. Papal infallibility was at a low ebb surely 
in those evil days. 

But the end is not yet. 



INFALLIBILITY. 59 



Stephen IV., having triumphed over his compet- 
itor, Constantine II., put out his eyes with a hot iron, 
commanded the executioner to strike him many cruel 
blows on the head, and tear out his tongue. " The 
execution took place in the very synod itself, in the 
presence of the prelates. After the punishment the 
body, horribly mutilated and almost lifeless, was car- 
ried forth from the assembly and cast into the dun- 
geons of the monks, where new tortures were inflicted 
on him." — "History of the Popes" P, 198. 

And yet we are asked to suppose this incarnate de- 
mon infallible simply because he is known in history 
as one of the many infamous popes of the Roman 
hierarchy, which arrogantly assumes to have never 
stood in need of a reformation ! 

But all this may be accounted for in the words of 
De Cormenin: "The court of Rome already dreamed 
of establishing the principle of the sovereignty and 
of the infallibility of the pope. Gregory dared to 
say, in full council, that his see was above the thrones 
of the earth, and that the pontiffs might conduct all 
nations to the prince of darkness [they have certain- 
ly made fine recruiting officers for the prince of the 
pit. — P.] without any living man having the right to 
accuse them of sin, because they were not submitted 
to the judgment of mortals." — "History of the Popes" 
L, 183. 

We may well close this chapter with a quotation 
from De Cormenin's criticisms on the papacy. He 
is treating the question of their bold assumptions in 
his history of Popes Boniface VI. and Stephen VII., 
A.D. 896, 897. Add to his comments an inspired 
prophecy: 



60 THE DANGER SIGNAL, 

" This prince will call himself the prince of princes, 
the lord of lords, the king of bishops, and the judge 
of all mortals. His flatterers will maintain that, by 
virtue of the plenitude of his power, he can change 
the nature of things, making right wrong and wrong 
right under the pretext that he is above and beyond 
the right, because he is the cause of causes! They 
w T ill affirm that we cannot seek for the origin of his 
power, maintaining that it is absurd to wish to assign 
a cause to the first cause, and that no one, without 
being heretical and damned, can say to him: '"Why do 
you so ? ' The courtiers and flatterers of this priest 
will push their baseness so far as to proclaim that his 
will and his caprices are in the place of laws (how 
true to this day!); that all mortals should bend in the 
dust, humiliate themselves before him, and blindly 
obey whatever he commands.* They will even estab- 
lish as a principle and article of faith that the pope 
is infallible; that he can neither sin nor be deceived; 
that all which is done in his name emanates from the 
will of God; that his orders should be considered as 
the orders of the Divinity, whose place he holds upon 
earth; and, finally, that he is God himself." — "History 
of the Popes," L, 273. 

* Notice these articles from Eome's creed: "The Holy Cath- 
olic and Apostolic Roman Church is the mother and mistress of 
all Churches, I acknowledge ; and I vow and swear true obe- 
dience to the Bishop of Rome, the successor of St. Peter, the 
prince of the apostles and the vicar of Jesus Christ." 

"Also the sacred Scriptures, according to that sense which our 
holy Mother the Church hath holden and doth hold (whose of- 
fice it is to judge of the true sense and interpretation of holy 
Scripture), do I admit ; neither will I ever receive and expound 
it but according to the uniform consent of the Fathers." 



INFALLIBILITY. 61 



The historian seemed to take no cognizance of the 
following inspired pen picture of the pope; yet his 
remarks are as pointed as if given in illustration of 
the divine prophecy: "That ye be not soon shaken 
in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by 
word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of 
Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any 
means: for that clay shall not come, except there 
come a falling away first, and that man of sin be re- 
vealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and ex- 
alteth himself above all that is called God, or that is 
worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple 
of God, showing himself that he is God. Remem- 
ber ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you 
these things? And now ye know what withholdeth 
that he might be revealed in his time. For the mys- 
tery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now 
letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 
And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the 
Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and 
shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: even 
him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with 
all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all 
cleceivableness of unrighteousness in them that per- 
ish; because they received not the love of the truth, 
that they might be saved." (2 Thess. ii. 2-10. ) 



Universal Supremacy. 



Closely allied to the question of infallibility is the 
kindred Eomish dogma of universal supremacy. 
They build this insolent assumption upon the sup- 
posed supremacy of Peter over the other apostles, 
coupled with that other papal figment, apostolical suc- 
cession. 

Hear Pope Pius IX. in the decrees of the Vatican 
Council, July 18, 1870: "If, therefore, any one shall 
say that the blessed apostle Peter was not constituted 
by Christ our Lord the prince of all the apostles and 
the visible head of the whole Church militant; or, 
that the same [Peter] received directly and immedi- 
ately from the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, a pri- 
macy of honor only, and not a primacy of true and 
proper jurisdiction; let him be anathema." Again he 
says: 

"If, therefore, any one shall say that it is not by 
the institution of Christ himself, our Lord, or by di- 
vine right, that the blessed Peter has perpetual suc- 
cessors in the primacy over the entire Church; or 
that the Roman pontiff is not the successor of the 
blessed Peter in the same primacy: let him be anath- 
ema." — "Popular Lectures" 415, 416. 

This plainly tells us that Peter was the head of 
the whole Church, with divine right and authority, 
and that the pope is his successor in these relations; 
and it is boldly declared that the objector shall be 
anathematized. (Now, reader, as to anathematize is to 
(62) 



UNIVERSAL SUPREMACY. 63 

curse, you see "the Holy Mother Church" has a re- 
markable facility at cursing people, either singly or 
collectively.) 

Before examining this baseless fabrication of Home 
minutely, it is in place to call your attention to one 
of its legitimate outgrowths. We speak of the pope's 
claim to temporal authority. In many places we hear 
Romanists deny that the pope wishes to secure tem- 
poral sovereignty. Let us see: 

Pope Nicholas I., 858-867, wrote to the Bishops 
of Lorraine; "You appear to forget that we, as the 
vicar of Christ, have the right to judge all men; 
thus before obeying kings you owe obedience to us; 
and if we declare a monarch guilty, you should re- 
ject him from your communion until we pardon him. 
We alone have the power to bind and to loose, to ab- 
solve Nero, and to condemn him; and Christians can- 
not, under penalty of excommunication, execute other 
judgment than ours, which alone is infallible. . . . 
If we declare a king heretical and sacrilegious — if we 
drive him from the Church, clergy and laity, what- 
ever their rank, are freed from their oaths of fidelity, 
and may revolt against his power'' — u History of the 
Popes/ L 9 242. 

We underscore the last few words, and beg the 
reader to ponder them in the light of history. 

"Ferraris, in his 'Ecclesiastical Dictionary,' a 
standard work of Roman Catholic divinity, observes: 
' The pope is divine monarch, supreme emperor, and 
king of kings. Hence the pope is crowned w T ith a 
triple crown, as king of heaven, of earth, and of hell.* 

J The actions of some of them seem to indicate their especial 
fitness for the kingship of the last-named place. — P. 



64 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

He is also above angels; so that if it were possible 
that angels could err from the faith, they could be 
judged and excommunicated by the pope. Hence the 
common doctrine teacheth that the pope hath the 
power of the two swords — the spiritual and tempo- 
ral.'" — Ferraris in "Papa" Art. IL, No. 1; quoted 
from "Cis-Ailantic Battle," p. 280. 

Gregory VII., in his " Constitutions," says: "The 
Roman pontiff alone can be called universal; princes 
are bound to kiss his feet, and his only; he has a right 
to dispose of emperors; no book can be called canon- 
ical without his authority; his sentence can be an- 
nulled by none, bat he may annul the decrees of all; 
the Roman Church has been, is, and will continue in- 
fallible; subjects may be absolved from their allegi- 
ance to wicked princes." 

"Rome made Charles the Bald utter this confes- 
sion : * That he held his empire by the gift of the 
pope."^-"C&- Atlantic Battle;' 261. 

Gregory VII. applied his own principles in the ex- 
communication of the Emperor Henry IV., as follows: 

"In full confidence in the authority over all Chris- 
tian people, granted by God to the delegate of St. 
Peter, for the honor and defense of the Church, in 
the name of the almighty God, the Father, the Son, 
and the Holy Ghost, and by the power and authority 
of St. Peter, I interdict King Henry, son of Henry 
the emperor, who by his unexampled pride has risen 
against the Church from the government of the 
whole realm of Germany and Italy. I absolve all 
Christians from their oaths which they have sworn 
or may swear to him, and forbid all obedience to 
him as king." 



UNIVERSAL SUPREMACY. 65 

Gregory continues; " Come then,«ye fathers, and 
most holy prelates, let all the world understand and 
know that, since ye have power to bind and loose in 
heaven, ye have power to grant and to take away em- 
pires, kingdoms, principalities, duchies, marquisates, 
counties, and the possessions of all men. ... If 
ye then judge in spiritual affairs, how great must be 
your power in secular! and if ye are to judge angels 
who rule over proud princes, what may ye not do to 
these their servants?" — " Popular Lectures" 442, 443. 

Only remember, reader, that Rome claims to be 
infallible, to hold apostolic succession, and to have 
never needetl reformation, and you will see in the 
preceding quotations the doctrine of Rome for all 
nations and all ages. She does not exercise temporal 
authority here and deluge these United States with 
blood to-day, as other nations in the days of her 
glory and power, simply because she cannot. In the 
section on "Some To-day" we will see some of her 
efforts on this line. 

But Rome claims scriptural authority for her 
figment of universal supremacy. 

Here is her chief passage: "And I say unto thee, 
That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build 
my Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail 
against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the 
kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind 
on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever 
thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." 
(Matt. xvi. 18, 19.) 

The Romish theory is: That Peter was the Rock 
on which Christ said he would build his Church; 
and the keys were given him to hold universal power 
5 



66 THE DANGEK SIGNAL. 

and authority; and that Peter exercised his authority 
for twenty-five years in Rome, and after his death 
his authority descended to the Roman pontiffs, whom 
they claim as his successors in office. 

We urge several objections to the Catholic view of 
this scripture. 

"1. It must be proved that by 'this rock' Jesus 
meant Peter, and that consequently Peter is the foun- 
dation upon which the Church of Christ is built. 

" 2. That the ' keys of the kingdom of heaven ' were 
given personally to Peter, and that he alone had the 
power to ' bind and loose' given to him. 

" 3. That Peter was by divine appointment consti- 
tuted the first Bishop of Rome, and prince and head 
of the universal Church; and 

"4. That this supreme power conferred on Peter 
descends in all its plenitude to his successors in the 
See of Rome. Not one of these four essential points 
can be proved even by an infallible pope, backed and 
sustained by an infallible council." 

"Jesus said unto Peter: 'Thou art petros, 9 a stone, 
a fragment of the rock, 'and upon this petr a' this 
mass of rock, ' I will build my Church.' This change 
of gender from 'petros' to 'petra 9 was understood by 
the Jews to be a change fronra stone or pebble to a 
great mass of rock. Petra is used sixteen times in the 
New Testament, and always in the sense of rock, a 
large mass, and never in the sense of a stone when it 
is used literally, while 'petros' is never so used. 

"Liddell and Scott define 'petra, a rock 9 and 'pe- 
tros, a piece of rock, a stone, and thus distinguished 
from petra 9 They also say: 'There is no example in 
good authors of petra, in the signification of petros, for 
a single stone.' " — Rev. G. W. Hughey. 



UNIVERSAL SUPREMACY. 67 

" Dr. Philip Schaff happily sums up the objections 
to the Roman Catholic interpretation of this passage 
in modern times as follows: '(1) It obliterates the 
distinction between petros and petra; (2) it is incon- 
sistent with the true nature of the architectural fig- 
ure: the foundation of a building is one and abiding, 
and not constantly renewed and changed; (3) it con- 
founds priority of time with permanent superiority 
of rank; (4) it confounds the apostolate, which, 
strictly speaking, is not transferable, but confined to 
the original personal disciples of Christ and inspired 
organs of the Holy Spirit, with the post-apostolic 
episcopate; (5) it involves an injustice to the other 
apostles, who as a body are expressly called the 
foundation or foundation stones of the Church; (6) 
it contradicts the whole spirit of Peter's Epistles, 
which is strongly anti-hierarchical, and disclaims any 
superiority over his fellow-presbyters ; ( 7 ) finally, it 
rests on gratuitous assumptions which can never be 
proved either exegetically or historically, viz.: the 
transferability of Peter's primacy, and its actual 
transfer upon the bishop, not of Jerusalem nor of 
Antioch (where Peter certainly was), but of Rome 
exclusively.' 

"To this we may add that Ephesians ii. 20 shows 
that Christ did not now r lay one foundation (Peter) 
for a new Church, but that the Church, standing 
upon the Rock of Ages as its eternal and immovable 
foundation, had upon this rock as strong foundation 
stones the prophets of the old dis])ensation and the 
apostles (Rev. xxi. 14, twelve foundations) of the New 
Testament dispensation." — Rev. J. G. Wilson, in "Pop- 
ular Lectures" 221. 



68 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

AVe note the following points further: 

1. Peter nowhere in the Scripture claimed to be 
pope. 

2. He is not recognized in that capacity by any of 
the apostles or New Testament writers. 

3. Paul wrote the Epistle to the Romans, and 
though he sent salutations to many individuals, he 
did not include Peter in the number. 

4. Paul wrote to Timothy from Rome that at first all 
men forsook him. (2 Tim. iv. 16.) Peter, if bishop of 
Rome at that time,. would certainly have'stood by him. 
Furthermore, he makes no mention of Peter at Rome. 

5.. No scripture mentions Peter at Rome, which is 
strange if he was there to found the Roman hie- 
rarchy. 

6. Paul, instead of admitting Peter's primacy and 
infallibility, says: "X withstood him to the face, be- y 
cause he w^as to be blamed." (Gal. ii. 11.) Peter 
never disputed Paul's version of this matter. 

7. Peter was the apostle of the Jews, and Paul of 
the Gentiles. Hence, had they tried to establish per- 
sonal primacy, Peter would have been bishop at Je- 
rusalem, and Paul at Rome. But neither one at- 
tempted such folly. 

8. But even at the Jerusalem Council James, not 
Peter, presided. (Acts xv. ) Had Peter imitated his 
pretended successors, he would never have submitted 
to that, provided he held the supremacy. 

9. Christ is the only foundation, St. Paul tells us. 
(1 Cor. iii. 11.) By this inspired construction of the 
foundation on which the Church is built (Matt. xvi. 
18) Rome's foundation (Peter) is repudiated, to the 
honor of Christ, the disgrace of Rome. 



UNIVERSAL SUPREMACY. 69 

10. Rome herself is much confused as to whom she 
shall catalogue as Peter^s successors. She is not only 
destitute of scriptural warrant for her pretensions, 
but her next refuge is itself very unsatisfactory. No 
less than six or eight different arrangements of papal 
catalogues have been made in the vain effort to con- 
nect the papal chain of apostolic succession with 
Peter at Rome. It is like hunting a gnat in a conti- 
nent of fog to seek to find the staple that secures the 
chain to the head of the Church at Rome! 

The following from Rev. Nicholas Murray ("Kir- 
wan") to Bishop Hughes is strong: "You so explain 
this text (Matt. xvi. 18, 19) as to make Peter the 
foundation of the Church; but Peter himself denies 
this by asserting that Christ is its foundation. (1 
Peter ii. ) Paul also denies it when he says that 
Christ Jesus is the only foundation that has been or 
can be laid (1 Cor. iii. 11), and when he represents 
Jesus Christ himself as the chief corner-stone. (Eph. 
ii. 20. ) And Jerome, Chrysostom, Origen, Cyril, Hil- 
ary, Augustine, make 'the rock' to mean not Peter,, 
but the faith, or confession of Peter. 

"And as to the gift of the keys, that avails you 
nothing as to the supremacy of Peter, for they were 
given equally to the other apostles as to him. And 
besides, I do not see what could be gained by placing 
the Church upon Peter; as, for all interests concerned, 
it is better that it should be built upon Christ." — 
"Kirwanls Letters;' III., 57. 

We give the following as probably the best con-, 
struction of the passage: 

Peter said: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of tho 
living God." Jesus said he was blessed in this knowl- 



70 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

edge, " for flesh, and blood hath not revealed it unto 
thee, but my Father which is jn heaven." " Upon this 
rock [sure foundation] I will build my Church, and 
the gates [powers] of hell shall not prevail against it." 
The rock his Church is built upon is a personal rev- 
elation of his divinity, his saving powder in the heart 
from on high. "No man can say that Jesus is the 
Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." "He that believeth 
on the Son of God hath the witness in himself." 
" The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; 
and he will shew them his covenant." (1 Cor. xii. 
3; 1 John v. 10; Ps. xxv. 14.) Christ builds his 
true spiritual Church on himself, consciously revealed 
to the soul that believes in him. Against this Church, 
this spiritual household of faith, this invisible king- 
dom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy 
Ghost hell's dark powers shall never prevail. Christ, 
known and confessed not by flesh and blood, not by 
human teaching and wisdom, but by divine revela- 
tion, is the only foundation that standeth sure, hav- 
ing this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. 
Hell can never prevail against the spirit-empowered 
armies of Christ, though they may belong to the va- 
rious regiments of human organization. "My Father 
hath revealed it unto thee." "No man can say that 
Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost;" for on 
this experimental foundation Jesus builds his eter- 
nal kingdom. Praise the Lord. 



Transubstantiation. 



The Romish doctrine of Transubstantiation means 
that the bread and wine used in the sacrament of the 
Lord's Supper are changed into the actual body and 
blood of our Lord. They say we do not in this com- 
munion eat bread and drink wine as emblems of the 
body and blood of Christ, but that these are changed 
really into Christ's body and blood. But we give the 
article entire from the Creed of Pope Pius IV.: 

" I profess, likewise, that in the mass there is of- 
fered to God a true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice 
for the living and the dead. And that in the most 
holy sacrifice of the Eucharist there are truly, really, 
and substantially the body and blood, together with 
the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ; and 
that there is made a conversion of the whole sub- 
stance of the bread into the body, and of the whole 
substance of the wine into the blood; which conver- 
sion the Catholic Church calls transubstantiation. I 
also confess that under either kind alone Christ is re- 
ceived whole and entire, and a true sacrament." 

That a doctrine so repugnant to reason should have 
become an article of faith in so large a communion as 
the Roman Catholic Church is a sufficient evidence 
that a period of ignorance and superstition once 
cursed the world and the Church, even if we were 
entirely destitute of the history of the dark ages. 

But Rome claims a scriptural warrant for this doc- 

(71) 



72 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 



trine: "In the institution of the sacrament Jesus 
said: 'Take, eat; this is my body. This is my blood 
of the New Testament which shall be shed for many.' 
(Luke xxii. 19.) These words of Christ, repeated in 
so many places, cannot be verified without offering 
violence to the text, any other way than by a real 
change of the bread and wine into his body and 
blood." — " Grounds of Catholic Doctrine" 35, 36. 

The theory insists on a literal interpretation of the 
words "this is my body, this is my blood;" but any 
student of the Bible is bound to know that it uses 
figurative language elsewhere, and why not here? 
Take these examples: "The Lord God is a sun and 
shield." (Ps. lxxxiv. 11.) "Stand therefore, hav- 
ing your loins girt about with truth, and having on 
the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod 
with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above 
all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be 
able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And 
take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the 
Spirit, which is the word of God." (Eph. vi. 14-17.) 
Does any one think that God has quit the throne of 
the universe and bcome a "shield" for, a warrior? 
Can you gird truth about you as a leathern girdle, 
or put-on righteousness as an actual "breastplate?" 
Can one make "shoes" of the gospel, and turn a 
Bible into a "sword?" As figures, these scriptures 
teach us beautiful truths. 

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet." (Ps. cxix. 
105.) Who ever thought of burning a Bible as a 
lamp by which to walk? And yet who does not get 
a precious spiritual truth from this? If Borne would 
abandon her traditions, superstitions, and general 



TEANSUBSTANTIATION. 



nonsense, she would succeed in moving toward lieav- 
eii at a better rate, walking in the light of God's holy 
word. 

" I am the true vine, and my Father is the hus- 
bandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit 
he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, 
he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit." 
(John xv. 1, 2.) According to Home's theory in. tran- 
substantiation there was no man Christ Jesus in Ju- 
dea at all. There was a vine that God had planted 
down there. Of course no man could be saved as such. 
The only chance for men to be saved was by being 
metamorphosed or transubstantiated into a scion and 
. being grafted into the vine! Of course common 
sense repudiates such jargon, and learns a lesson of 
holy fellowship with Christ from this instructive fig- 
ure. 

"I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; 
yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." (Gal. ii. 20.) 

Literal interpretation here would furnish a strange 
affair: Paul dead, yet not dead; and still not alive, 
but Christ living in him. This would be foolishness, 
but as a figure it teaches such a complete salvation 
from sin that he calls himself dead to it, though it 
was formerly his very life, as it were. Nov/ he lives 
no more under the dominion of the old carnal life, 
but in glorious spiritual f ellowship with the crucified 
Christ. 

Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's 
well, said: "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall 
thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water 
that I shall give him shall never thirst: but the water 
that I shall give him shall be in him a well of 'water 



74 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

springing up into everlasting life." (John iv. 13, 14. ) 
Who ever dreamed that Jesus, who himself asked the 
woman for a drink, was going about with a bottle of 
water, distributing it to the people, who on drinking 
thereof never got thirsty any more? but had a " well 
of water springing up" in them ever after. Yet 
Home's literal interpretation would yield this result. 
It is a beautiful and instructive figure, however. 

But we constantly use like figures in common 
speech. "Take a homely instance," says Bishop 
Marvin, in "Errors of the Papacy:" "A man under- 
takes to describe a worthless and impracticable fel- 
low, of whom no use can be made for valuable ends, 
and condenses a whole paragraph into a pithy figure: 
* He is a crooked stick.' No man misunderstands that. 
No man can misunderstand it. Why, even children 
use this species of expression, and understand each 
other perfectly. Figurative language," the bishop 
continues, "has this advantage: that while it is often 
more liable to misinterpretation than literal state- 
ment, it conveys a much more lively impression. It 
arrests the attention, penetrates the mind, and infixes 
itself in the memory more effectually. It combines 
the qualities of statement, argument, and illustration. 
It draws a picture of the truth, and hangs it up be- 
fore the mind. In fact, no man makes himself so 
well and so perfectly understood, or brings his matter 
so accurately to the minds of others, as he who is 
master of figurative speech." 

Thus Jesus would tell his disciples of his coming 
death, and leave a graphic picture of it for his follow- 
ers in all ages. Therefore he said: "This is my body 
[/. e. y it represents my body], and this is my blood 



TRANSUBSTANTIATION. 



[this represents my blood]." "This do in remem- 
brance of me." As though he had said: " I give you 
these emblems of my broken body aud shed blood, 
that when you take them they may bring my death 
for you fresh to your memory." By these pictures 
he would ever have us keep in memory his broken 
body and his shed blood. 

But Borne has touched this simple memorial of our 
crucified Redeemer with the hand of superstition, and 
lo! she proposes by the magic wand in the hands of 
her priests to turn the simple elements of bread and 
wine used in the sacrament into the real Christ, whole 
and entire, body and blood, soul and divinity! Then, 
to cap the climax of this irreverent absurdity, she re- 
fuses the cup to her laity, giving them the sacrament 
"in one kind" only, as she expresses it: "Whosoever 
receives the body of Christ, receives Christ himself 
whole and entire: there is no receiving him by parts." 

"Q. But are not the faithful thus deprived of a 
great part of the grace of this sacrament?" 

"A. No; because under one kind they receive the 
same as they would do under both: insomuch as they 
receive Christ himself whole and entire, the author 
and fountain of grace." 

"Q. What are the reasons why the Church does not 
give communion to all her children in both kinds?" 

"A. 1. Because of the danger of spilling the blood 
of Christ, which could hardly be avoided, if all were 
to receive the cup. 2. Because, considering how 
soon wine decays, the sacrament could not well be 
kept for the sick in both kinds." — "Grounds of Catho- 
lic Doctrine^ 39-43. 

Some questions might not be amiss on the foregoing. 



76 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

1. If the wafer still looks and tastes like bread, how 
can we assure ourselves that it is the actual body 
(flesh) of Christ? 

2. As the wine still looks and tastes like wine, how 
may we know it has become transubstantiated — 
changed to real blood? 

3. If we are referred to the Scripture " This is my 
body," etc., how may we know that it is not figura- 
tive, as held by Protestants and justified by many 
other scriptures ? 

4. If the bread is Christ's body, and the wine his 
blood, how is it that when the wine and blood are 
separated he is whole and entire in each? 

5. If the wine is actually changed into the blood of 
Christ, why say that as wine decays so soon, the sac- 
rament could not be kept? To say that wine decays 
fails to touch the question, for this is no longer wine, 
but blood, according to your own teaching, which you^ 
may believe; I do not. 

6. How many bodies has Jesus? If Borne has 
kept ten thousand priests busy for eighteen hundred 
years sacrificing the mass one hundred times each per 
year, it would have consumed ere this the whole body 
of the Redeemer many hundreds of millions of times. 

7. But are we told that Christ is created in the sac- 
rifice of- the mass? Then how many Christs has 
Borne? The Bible has but one (John iii. 16); Borne 
has millions uncounted. Hence Borne is still pagan 
— polytheistic. - 

8. Does not this theory place the priest above God, 
since he creates and sacrifices his own god? 

9. Is not this the worst form of cannibalism; to 
create a god from a wafer, and then eat him? 



TSANSUBSTANTIATION. 77 

If the passage must be understood literally, it cer- 
tainly teaches that the disciples ate the Saviour him- 
self and drank his blood, and that before his death. 
This is cannibalism of the rankest type. That the 
language is figurative appears in the expression: " He 
took the cup and said, Drink ye all of it" It surely 
does not mean that he taught them to drink " the 
cup," but the contents of the cup. 

But we desist. We have a profound reverence for 
the holy eucharist, winch so truly and simply brings 
to our remembrance the death and suffering of the 
holy Eedeemer, the Son of God, the Savigur of sin- 
ners, by whose " stripes we are healed." We stand 
with uncovered head, with holy awe, before his cross, 
as he dies that we may live. As we gather with God's 
people, and the emblems of his passion are presented, 

We eat the bread, and drink the wine, 
But think on nobler things. 

But while we thus revere our Saviour's love, and 
commemorate his passion, reverently, we have no rev- 
erence for a base superstition that dishonors Christ 
and turns millions who profess his name into the low- 
est form of idolatry, which calls a wafer "God" and 
worships it. May the Church of God be saved from 
superstition and idolatry! Amen. 

A little item of history touching the rise of the 
dogma of transubstantiation may not be altogether 
uninteresting. In the ninth century " Pascasius Ead- 
bert, a monk, published a treatise concerning the sac- 
rament of the body and blood of Christ, in which he 
did not hesitate to maintain the following most 
extraordinary positions: 'That after the .consecra- 
tion of the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper 



78 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

nothing remained of these symbols but the outward 
form or figure under which the body and blood of 
Christ were really and locally present; and that this 
body so present was the identical body that had been 
born of the Virgin Mary, had suffered on the cross, 
and had been raised from the dead.' 

"The publication of notions so decidedly at war 
with all which human beings must credit excited, as 
might have been expected, astonishment and indigna- 
tion; and, accordingly, many writers exerted their 
talents against it. Among these was the celebrated 
Johannes^cotus (John Scot), who laid the ax to. the 
root of the tree, and, shaking off all that figurative 
language which had been so sadly abused, distinctly 
and powerfully stated that the bread and wine used 
in the eucharist were the signs or symbols of the ab- 
sent body and blood of Christ. The light of reason 
and truth was, however, too feeble to penetrate 
through the darkness which, during this age, was 
spread over the minds and understandings of men." 

The doctrine of transubstantiation gained the gen- 
eral consent of the Roman Church, though there were 
many strong minds engaged against the error. 
"Among these, Beringer holds the most conspicuous 
place, both on account of the zeal and ability which, 
he displayed, and the cruel and unchristian manner 
in which he w T as resisted." "He was encountered 
by a host of opponents, numbers of whom possessed 
the highest situations in the Church; and the Church 
itself, either from having perceived that the doctrine 
which he labored to confute was grateful to the peo- 
ple, or, what is more likely, tended to exalt the pow- 
ers and to increase the influence and wealth of the 



TRANSUBSTANTIATION. 79 

priesthood, declared against him, various councils 
having been assembled and having pronounced their 
solemn decrees in condemnation of what he taught. 
The councils did not rest their hope of overcoming 
Beringer upon the strength of the reasoning which 
they could urge against him: they took a milch more 
summary method, and threatened to put him to death 
if he did not recant." — Watson's "Theological Diction- 
art;," Art. "Trans" 

Pope "Nicholas at last caught Beringer, the illus- 
trious professor of Tours, in a trap. He invited him 
to Rome under the pretext of explaining to him his 
doctrine in regard to the eucharist; but no sooner had 
he set foot in Italy than he was cast into prison, sub- 
mitted to rigorous treatment, and threatened with 
death by torture unless he consented to present to the 
pope an abjuration, signed with his own hand and 
conceived in these terms: 'I, Beringer, an unworthy 
archdeacon of the Church of St. Maurice of Angers, 
understanding the true Catholic faith, anathematize 
all heresies, and especially that which I have pro- 
fessed until now, by which I pretended to main- 
tain that the bread and wine placed upon the 
altar during the holy sacrifice, were not after their 
consecration, but the sacrament, and not the true 
body and blood of Jesus Christ. I now agree 
with the holy [reader, don't forget Rome's holi- 
ness!] Roman Church and the apostolical see, and 
I profess the same faith in regard to the sacrament of 
the altar as Pope Nicholas. I believe that the bread 
and wine are, after their consecration, the true body 
and blood of Jesus Christ; that they are touched and 
divided by the hands of the priest and the teeth of 



80 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

the faithful. I swear it by the holy Trinity, declar- 
ing those anathematized who combat this belief by 
their teaching or followers, and condemning myself 
w r ith all the severity of the canons if I shall ever re- 
voke the sentiments declared in this profession of 
faith, which I have read, meditated upon, and will- 
ingly subscribed.'" — "History of the Popes" L, 354. 

You see, reader, how effective are Rome's methods 
for convincing those whom she sees fit to brand as 
heretics. The inquisitorial rack is a wonderfully 
convincing argument, and Rome has great facility in 
its use, where she holds the reins of power! If she 
succeeds in gaining the ascendency in these United 
States, many of us may have the same arguments ap- 
plied to convince us of the doctrines of tran substan- 
tiation. 

"Beringer signed the formula of abjuration, and he 
himself burned, in the presence of the pope and his 
council, the works which he had written upon the eu- 
charist." (Ibid.) But when Beringer passed out of 
Italy into France he "protested against the oath 
which had been wrested from him by violence, and 
opposed himself more than ever to the tyranny" of 
the pope. 



Purgatory. 



This doctrine is stated thus: 

"We constantly hold that there is a purgatory; 
and that the souls therein detained are helped by the 
suffrages of the faithful — that is, by the prayers and 
alms offered for them, and principally by the holy 
sacrifice of the mass. 

"Q. What do you mean by purgatory? 

"A. A middle state of souls who depart this life in 
God's grace, yet not without some lesser stains or 
guilt of punishment, which retard them from enter- 
ing heaven. But as to the particular place where 
these souls suffer, or the quality of the torments 
which they suffer, the Church has decided nothing. 

"Q. Upon what do you ground your belief of pur- 
gatory ? 

"A. Upon Scripture, tradition, and reason." — 
"Grounds of Catholic Doctrine" 47, 48. 

Here are some of the scriptures: Matthew xii. 32; 
1 Corinthians iii. 11-15; Maccabees xii. 

As the book of Maccabees belongs to the apocry- 
phal books, and has never been considered inspired 
by Jews, Protestants, or even Catholics in the first 
councils, we will not devote space to the quotation 
they make from it. Let the scripture cited be briefly 
examined. 

We quote the following from Rev. N. Murray: 
" ' Whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall 
not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in 
6 (81) 



THE DANGEK SIGNAL. 



the world to come.' (Matt. xii. 32.) Matthew v. 
26, is another: 'Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt 
by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the 
uttermost farthing.' Both these, you say, refer to. 
purgatory. From the one you conclude that sins may 
be forgiven in the next world; from the other, that 
none can get out of purgatory till the last farthing is 
paid. Now, dear sir, let me ask you how you put 
these texts together. If sins are forgiven, how or 
why is payment required to the last farthing? Can 
I forgive a debt, and yet require its payment? Look 
at the first text again; you find purgatory in it, but 
how? In this way: because there is a sin which will 
not be forgiven in this world nor in the world to 
come, therefore there is a sin that will be forgiven in 
the world to come! Such is the logic of infallible 
Rome! Because a certain sin is not to be forgiven 
here or hereafter, therefore many sins will be forgiven 
hereafter! And because 'this world' and 'the world 
to come' is inclusive of all time and place popery 
builds up a place which belongs neither to this world 
nor to the world to come, and fills it with fire, and 
calls it purgatory. Like Mohammed's coffin, it floats 
somewhere between heaven and hell. Into this world 
of fire you drive the souls of men as they leave the 
body, and let them out only on the reception of ' the 
suffrages of the faithful ' — that is, their money! Now, 
sir, what do you say to all this? The 'alms' and 
other 'suffrages of the faithful ' are pocketed by the 
priest. And purgatory was invented for the special 
purpose of securing these alms and other suffrages 
of the faithful, to pope, prelates, and priests. — "Kir- 
wan 9 s Letters/ 9 I. } 73-75. 



PURGATORY. 83 



The following from the Christian Bepository, by its 
editor, Rev. Dr. S. H. Ford, is a sufficient refutation 
of Rome's view of the passage if we had nothing 
more: "The words of our Lord in regard to the sin 
against the Holy Ghost imply it is fatal. The words 
in Mark iii. 27 and Luke xii. 10 — ' hath never for- 
giveness ' and 'it shall not be forgiven' — explain the 
words in Matthew, ' in this world, neither in the world 
to come.' Indeed, the preceding verse, of which this 
must be the emphatic declaration, fully explains the 
Lord's meaning: 'But blasphemy against the Holy 
Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.' The repeti- 
tion emphasizes these words. The world to come, in 
Jewish phraseology, meant reign of the Messiah [the 
future age or dispensation frequently called world. — 
P], in which they expected a fuller dispensation of 
pardon than under the Mosaic dispensation. Our 
Lord here informed them that this sin, which they 
were evidently committing by attributing his works 
to Satanic power, w^ould find no mercy even under the 
new T order of things which they were looking for — 
neither now nor under the Messiah, the world to 
come, would this "sin be forgiven. Purgatorial puri- 
fication by fire, or any countenance to this God-dis- 
honoring dogma, cannot be wrenched from this text." 
"In this w T orld there is forgiveness (except for sin 
against the Holy Ghost); in purgatory there is none 
— it is punishment. There is no mercy, no grace, no 
pardon in the pagan dogma of purgatory." 

The passage in the Corinthians (1 Cor. iii. 11-15) 
furnishes no ground for the dogma of purgatory. 
" The fire shall try every man's work of what sort it 
is." 



84 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 



In this the fire does not try the man, but "his work," 
of what sort it is. Christ is said to be the only foun- 
dation (verse 11) for man's salvation. He who 
builds on Christ, trusts only in him, loves and truly 
serves him only, will find salvation through his 
grace. But such as build on Christ alone and are 
thus saved, undergo a trial of their works for the re- 
ward. The fire shall try their work, " of what sort it 
is." These are works intended to be good because 
the man himself builds on Christ. If he had not 
built on Christ, he would be at once condemned as a 
sinner; but now having built on Christ, the only 
foundation, he is saved, and his works must stand the 
fire. "If his work abide which he hath built there- 
upon, he shall receive a reward." " If any man's work 
shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself 
shall be saved; yet so as by fire." (Verses 14, 15.) 

For illustration: A poor man is raised under the 
influences of Home. He hears of Christ, and, amid 
all Rome's superstition and rubbish, he puts his trust 
in Jesus, thus building on the only foundation. Now, 
in love to Christ who died for him he wants to do 
good. He knows no creed but that of Rome, so he 
labors earnestly to propagate . the dogmas of the 
"One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Roman Church," 
verily thinking that he is doing God service. But 
when he goes up to judgment, and hopes for great 
reward, lo! all his works are burned. He himself 
was built on Christ, and is saved; his works were 
built on Rome, and are burned! 

It may be well to notice the case of the " spirits in 
prison." (1 Pet. iii. 18-20.) Rome contends that 
this " prison " was purgatory. If so, why did Christ 



PURGATORY. 85 



preach to them? If they were there to expiate their 
venial sins, preaching would not save them; if 
preaching to them there would get them out, preach- 
ing to them here would keep them out; hence such 
as have the gospel in this life will not need purgatory 
hereafter. So this destroys the doctrine of purgatory. 
But since the papacy has altogether abandoned the 
gospel, she has perhaps thought it expedient to in- 
troduce the heathen myth of purgatory as a substi- 
tute. This is like her. She commonly substitutes 
counterfeit for coin, the false for the true. 

It is probable that Christ after his death preached 
his gospel of the kingdom to all who had died pre- 
vious to his crucifixion. His true spiritual kingdom 
was not known, perhaps, till after his death. He 
himself preached in life, with John the Baptist, " the 
kingdom of heaven is at hand" — that is, it is now 
about ready to be revealed. This gospel he no 
doubt preached to all who had died in the faith of 
his promised coming before he was manifested. 
They were probably in a middle state of prison that 
held them for the gospel of Christ to be given them. 
Since his death the Bible nowhere even hints a mid- 
dle state, purgatory or other. 



Origin of the Doctrine of Purgatory. 



The author of the "History of the Popes" gives 
us the rise of the doctrine of purgatory. He first 
shows from Yirgil that the pagans held the idea, and 
thus proceeds: "In the dialogues, and in the psalms 
of penitence, Gregory thus expresses himself: 'When 
they are delivered from their terrestrial prison by 
death the guilty souls are condemned to punishment, 
whose duration is infinite. Those who have com- 
mitted, during their passage through the world, but 
light faults arrive at life eternal after having been 
regenerated by purifying flames. ... In recall- 
ing these two passages (this from the pope and that 
from Yirgil) one evidently sees that the holy father 
took from paganism his doctrine of purgatory, which 
was unknown to the apostles and early Christians, 
and of which we find no trace in the works of the 
doctors of the Church, not even of the prayers for 
the dead, which were in use in the time of Tertul- 
lian."— /., 129. 

Rome appealed to "Scripture, tradition, and rea- 
son." We suppose the above from her historian will 
settle the matter of tradition. But will not Cath- 
olics profit by a description of purgatory? This 
must be as valuable as other legends and traditions 
which are at a premium in many circles where Eome 
holds sway. We quote from a lecture by Rev. John 
A. Wilson: 
(86) 



ORIGIN OF THE DOCTRINE OE PURGATORY. 87 



"I fail to understand why the Church of Rome 
' has decided nothing ' concerning the quality of pur- 
gatorial punishment since some of ' the faithful ' have 
seen and described it. I will just refer to one ac- 
count given by Matthew Paris, the distinguished Ben- 
edictine: 

" The witness, fresh from the flames, to whom he 
refers, is one Enus, who had been a warrior under 
Stephen, King of England. 'Eesolving to make rep- 
aration in St. Patrick's purgatory for the enormity 
of his life, Enus visited Ireland. The Son of God, if 
old chroniclers may be credited, appeared to the saint 
when he preached the gospel to the bestial Irish, and 
instructed the missionary to construct a purgatory at 
Lough Derg, and promised the plenary remission of 
sin to all who should remain a day and a night in this 
laboratory of atonement. Fortified by the holy com- 
munion, and sprinkled with holy water, the fearless 
soldier entered the gloomy cave. The groans of the 
sufferers soon began to stun his ears. Numberless 
men and women, lying naked on the earth, and trans- 
fixed with red-hot nails, bit the dust with pain. Dev- 
ils lashed some with dreadful whips. Fiery dragons 
gnawed some with ignited teeth. Some w r ere roasted 
on spits, fried in pans, or broiled in furnaces. A sul- 
phurous well, emitting flame and stench, threw up 
men like sparkling scintillations into the air, and 
again received them falling into its burning mouth. 
A bridge, studded with sharp nails and thorns, with 
their points turned upward, had to be crossed. The 
souls walked barefooted on this rough road, and, en- 
deavoring to ease their feet, leaned on their hands, 
and afterward rolled with the w T hole body on the per- 



88 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

forating spikes till, pierced and bloody, they worked 
their painful, tedious way over the thorny path. 
Passing this defile was often the work of many years; 
but this last difficulty being surmounted, the spirits, 
forgetful of their pain, escaped to heaven, called the 
mount of joy.' I have thought it meet to give you 
this much from the purgatorial literature." — "Popular 
Lectures" 136, 137. 

Even popes are not exempt from the pains of pur- 
gatory, if the legends of the Church may be credited. 
Take the following for a sample. The subject is 
Benedict the Eighth, 1012-24: 

a A great number of authors gravely relate the nu- 
merous apparitions of Benedict. Platinus assures us 
that a prelate saw the ghost of the holy father, robed 
in his pontifical ornaments, and mounted on a black 
horse. The bishop having asked the phantom where 
he was going, the pontiff seized him forcibly by the 
arm, and, lifting him from the earth, bore him to a 
place in which were concealed treasures, which he or- 
dered him to distribute to the poor to allay the suf- 
ferings he was enduring in another life as a punish- 
ment for his rapine. 

"Sigebert and Petrus Damianus also affirm that 
the pope appeared to his successor, and besought his 
prayers to moderate the fires of purgatory, in which 
he was condemned to remain a thousand years on ac- 
count of his crimes." — "History of the Popes" L, 326. 

In conclusion we urge several objections to this 
dogma of Borne. 

1. It is not taught in the Bible. 

We have found that the passages adduced do not 
support so stupendous a fabric. The word is not in 



ORIGIN OF THE DOCTRINE OF PURGATORY. 89 

the Bible, and no scripture that clearly infers it has 
been found. 

2. It is directly contrary to many explicit passages of 
scripture. 

(1) "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it 
with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor 
knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou 
goest." (Eccles. ix. 10.) No purgatory to get ready 
for heaven in beyond the gates of the grave. 

(2) " It is appointed unto men once to die, but aft- 
er this the judgment." (Heb. ix. 27.) No purgato- 
ry between death and judgment. 

(3) "Absent from the body, present with the 
Lord." (2 Cor. v. 8.) No thousand years of fire 
here. 

(4) " For we must all appear before the judgment- 
seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things 
done in his body, according to that he hath done, 
whether it be good or bad." (2 Cor. v. 10.) 

We go into judgment, not purgatory, to meet the 
records of life. And we do not enter judgment on 
the basis of purgatorial sanctification, but of the ac- 
tions of life in the body — whether good or bad. 

Any of these passages afforded the writers fine op- 
portunity to mention purgatory, had it been in exist- 
ence. Being a pagan invention, it was not revealed 
in God's word. 

3. It is against the revealed doctrine of salvation by 
faith. 

(1) "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou 
shalt be saved." (Acts xvi. 31.) 

(2) "Therefore being justified by faith, we have 
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 



90 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

by whom also we have access by faith into this grace 
wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of 
God." (Rom. v. 1, 2.) This shows that justification 
— the pardon of sin — and the accompanying blessings 
of grace are received by faith. By faith we build on 
Christ, the only Saviour; by our works built on this 
foundation we are to receive a reward, if they stand 
the fire, as shown in the comment on 1 Corinthians 
iii. 11-14. 

(3) " Therefore we conclude that a man is justified 
by faith without the deeds of the law." (Eom. iii. 28.) 

The spiritual life has its source only in Christ. It 
flows to us simply by faith. Hence we read: 

(4) "The just shall live by faith: but if any man 
draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him." 
(Heb. x. 38.) 

No works or purgatorial fires must be allowed to 
come between the sinner and Christ, his only but all- 
sufficient Saviour. 

AVorks are good, as a fruit of faith, but purgatory 
is good for nothing. It hinders salvation by faith in 
offering an unscriptural process for cleansing from 
venial sins. The Bible makes no classification of 
sins, as venial and mortal, but simply offers full par- 
don and perfect salvation by faith, which must be ex- 
emplified in good works. " Faith without works is 
dead." 

As purgatory comes between the soul and its 
Saviour, whose grace is received by faith, we consider 
it a dangerous heresy. 

4. The doctrine of pur gator ij is to be rejected because 
it dishonors Christ, 

(1) "Neither is there salvation in any other: for 



ORIGIN OF THE DOCTRINE OF PURGATORY. 91 

there is none other name under heaven given among 
men, whereby we must be saved." (Acts iv. 12.) 
Christ will not divide the honor of saving men with 
purgatory. He alone can save us. 

(2) "Thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall 
save his people from their sins." (Matt. i. 21.) This 
leaves no work for purgatory. Jesus only can save 
from sins, both mortal and venial. 

(3) " But if we walk in the light, as he is in the 
light, we have fellowship one with another, and the 
blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all 
sin." (1 John i. 7.) Christ's blood, not purgatory, 
cleanseth from all sin. This is present tense, 
" cleanseth," now, from all sin. 

(4) " Wherefore, Jesus also, that he might sanctify 
the people with his own blood, suffered without the 
gate." (Heb. xiii. 12.) 

Since the Bible declares that " without holiness no 
man shall see the Lord," Rome invented purgatory as 
a place to perfect human sanctification. The word 
means to "purge, purify, to cleanse." The Bible 
says Jesus died that he might sanctify the people; 
his blood " cleanseth from all sin." Therefore Rome's 
dogma of purgatory is anti-scriptural, dishonoring to 
Christ, hence dangerous to the soul, and we believe 
it has sunk its thousands into hell, who died in sin 
from which they vainly expected purgatorial cleans- 
ing. Header, look to Jesus for holiness, not to pur- 
gatory. (See 1 Peter i. 15, 16; Luke i. 73-75.) 

5. The belief in purgatorial sanctification is a prolific 
source of sin. 

The heart is naturally idolatrous and sinful. With 
all the joys of heaven and the awful horrors of hell 



92 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

preached to the people, thousands persist in sin. 
Now. only classify sins as mortal and venial, and 
many will take big margin on venial sins, and, forget- 
ting God's holy law, will waste their days in sin in 
the vain hope that the prayers and alms of Rome will 
get them through purgatory to heaven. Thus souls 
are lost; while idolatrous Rome continues preaching 
purgatory to the dishonor of Christ Jesus. Our God 
is a " jealqns God," and will not give his honor to an- 
other. 

6. This doctrine leaves salvation an uncertainty. 
Men, knowing they are not just ready to meet 

God, still hope to reach heaven through the fires of 
purgatory. But the whole thing is in doubt. The 
theory admits of no direct witness of the Spirit to a 
present preparation to see God. But the Bible teach- 
es assurance. " The Spirit himself beareth witness 
with our spirit, that we are children of God." (Rom. 
viii. 16.) 

7. It perverts the c/ospel. 

(1) "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, 
now is the day of salvation." (2 Cor. vi. 2.) 

(2) " Wherefore he is able also to save them to the 
uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever 
liveth to make intercession for them." (Heb. vii. 
25.) 

. The gospel offers a present and full salvation 
through Jesus. Rome offers a measure of salvation 
here, and promises a completion after death; where- 
as the Bible speaks of judgment after death without 
any hint of an intervening purgatory. Therefore her 
doctrine is a perversion of gospel truth. 

8. It corrupts the ministry. 



ORIGIN OF THE DOCTRINE OF PURGATORY. 93 



Any thing that has a tendency to create a mercena- 
ry spirit in the ministry is a great evil in the Church. 
It is well known that the living are frequently kept 
poor in paying a hireling priesthood to pray the dead 
out of purgatory. Thus the dead are lost, the living de- 
frauded, and the ministry of the Church corrupted by 
this pagan superstition! 

" The heads thereof judge for reward, and the 
priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets there- 
of divine for money: yet will they lean upon the 
Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among us? none evil 
can come upon us.'" (Micah. iii. 11.) The prophet 
certainly saw Romanism with prophetic vision. 

9. The doctrine we are opposing is contrary to reason. 
With the Bible revelation of God's wondrous love, 

and his mighty effort for man's salvation before him, 
and facing the cross on which Jesus died to redeem 
the lost, who could for a moment think that God 
would allow those who accept his Son as a Saviour 
to burn in the fires of purgatory for their purification 
from sin? In the glorious radiance of Calvary the 
idea that man's salvation is in any way dependent on 
the sufferings of purgatory is preposterous. " God is 
love." " Come now, and let us reason together, saith 
the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall 
be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, 
they shall be as wool." " The blood of Jesus Christ 
his Son cleanseth us from all sin." 

10. This doctrine is of pagan origin. 

We mentioned this before in the historical sketch 
from De Cormenin. We add the following from Mr. 
John Wesley. He quotes from "Virgil" these lines 
(Pitt's translation): 



94 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 



Even when those bodies are to death resigned, 

Some old inherent spots are left behind ; 

A sullying tincture of corporeal stains 

Deep in the substance of the soul remains. 

Thus are her splendors dimmed, and crusted o'er 

With those dark vices that she knew before. 

For this the souls a various penance pay , 

1 o purge the taint of former crimes away. 

Some in the sweeping breezes are refined, 

And hung on high to whiten in the wind; 

Some cleanse their stains beneath the gushing streams, 

And some rise glorious from the searching flames. 

Mr. Wesley comments as follows: " See the near re- 
semblance between the ancient and the modern pur- 
gatory! Only in the ancient, the heathen purgatory, 
fire, water, and air were all employed in expiating sin 
and purifying the soul; whereas in the mystic (Ro- 
man Catholic) purgatory fire alone is supposed suffi- 
cient both to purge and expiate. Vain hope! No 
suffering but that of Christ has any power to expiate 
sin; and no fire but that of love can purify the soul, 
either in time or in eternity." — Sermon on "Dives and 
Lazarus." 

Purgatory is the devil's half-way station. 



Relics and Miracles. 



Eome explains her doctrine of relics thus: 

"Q. What do you mean by relics? 

i; A. The bodies or bones of saints, or any thing 
else that has belonged to them. 

"Q. What grounds have you for paying a venera- 
tion to the relics of the saints? 

"A. Besides the ancient tradition and practice of 
the first ages, attested by the best monuments of an- 
tiquity, we have been warranted to do so by many il- 
lustrious miracles done at the tombs and by the relics 
of the saints (see Augustine, L. 22, of the "City of 
God," Chap. VIII.), which God, who is truth and 
sanctity itself, would never have effected if this hon- 
or paid to the precious remnants of his servants was 
not agreeable to him. 

"Q. Have you any instance in Scripture of miracles 
done by relics? 

"A. Yes, we read, 2 Kings xiii. 21, of a dead man 
raised to life by the bones of the prophet Elisha; and, 
Acts xix. 12, 'From the body of Paul were brought 
unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the dis- 
eases departed from them, and the evil spirits went 
out of them.' " — "Grounds of Catholic Doctrine" 63, 64. 

The things used as relics are very queer, and the 
miracles performed by them. What shall we say of 
them ? But we give some samples farther on. 

The scriptures given do not support Home's doc- 

(95) 



96 THE DANGEK SIGNAL. 

trine. The case in 2 Kings is not to the point: (I) 
It is the only case of the kind in the Bible; (2) they 
were the bones of an inspired man, a prophet, and 
one who had wrought miracles in his life; (3) his 
bones were not relics then or afterward; (4) even 
Elisha's bones never worked another miracle. As to 
the aprons, handkerchiefs, etc., of Paul, the same ob- 
jections might be urged. The apostle was working 
many miracles, and this was simply one of the ways 
in which the Lord's power was manifested through 
his work. We have no account of these things ever 
performing other miracles, or of them being pre- 
served as relics for future use. 
We object to relics: 

1. Because they are nowhere recommended or even men- 
tioned in the Bible. 

Our duties, commands, and privileges claim the 
attention of the inspired writers, but relics get no 
word of encouragement from the word of God. 

2. They were neither saved nor recommended by Christ 
or the apostles. 

Why should not they have saved them? Why did 
they not warn others to be careful about gathering 
and saving relics ? The only reason is because their 
use is evil. 

3. The things used in miraculous trays were never pre- 
served in Bible times. 

What became of Aaron's rod?* What of the scr- 

*The Catholics, as will be seen in other pages, claim to have 
Aaron's rod and some other relics from the days before Christ ; 
but no one can treat such ridiculous claims with seriousness. 
But the point we especially make here is that these things were 
not in use as relics in the days of Christ and his apostles, so far 



RELICS AND MIRACLES. 97 

pent of brass? or the pole on which it was lifted? 
What became of Noah's ark? or the dove he turned 
loose from the window? Where is the knife Abra- 
ham was about to kill Isaac with? or the hair Jacob 
deceived his father with? Where is Joseph's coat of 
many colors? or the cup he returned to his brother's 
sack? What of the bone with which Samson slew 
so many Philistines? or the gates of Gaza? or the 
pillars of the temple he pulled down? Where are the 
bones of Moses? or the basket his mother hid him 
in? 

The Lord foresaw Rome's idolatrous itch for relics, 
and so these things never reached her day. They 
were not in use by the prophets or the apostles or 
John the Baptist or the Saviour, so far as the Bible 
record goes. What a fortune Borne would have 
reaped from these things had they fallen to her in- 
heritance! But poor Borne! She has had to make 
brick, comparatively, without straw! But, thanks to 
her inventive genius, she has the bricks — relics, Bible 
or no Bible (!) and they generally command a good 
price. 

4. They beget a spirit of idolatry. 

Proof: Borne and her relics. No argument is 
needed. But see illustrations farther on. 

5. We object to the uses made of relics. 

(1) They are sold — thus filling the coffers of Borne. 

(2) They are worshiped— thus dishonoring God. 

as the inspired records inform us. They would certainly have 
served worthily in that capacity, had Christ allowed the worship 
of relics. Did not the Lord himself bury Moses to prevent the 
Jews making an idol of his bones, saving and worshiping them 
as relics ? 
7 



98 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

(3) They are trusted in — thus obscuring and sup- 
planting Christ, and damaging religion. 

6. We object to the spirit of dishonesty manifested in 
procuring and disposing of them. 

For proof, see some incidents and historical data 
which we append. Any thing will do for a relic if 
they can only give it a satisfactory name. 

" During the sojourn of Leo [the Ninth] at Eatis- 
bon the monks of St. Emmeran came to beseech him 
to second them in a piece of pure knavery in regard 
to the relics of St. Denis the Areopagite, the first 
Bishop of Paris, of which they pretended they were 
the sole possessors. The holy father consented to 
examine the bones presented to him ; and he declared 
by a bull bearing date 7th of October, 1052, that, by 
the inspiration of God, he recognized the body of St. 
Denis in the precious relics of St. Emmeran, and he 
called the French monks wdio pretended to possess 
the remains of that blessed martyr visionaries." 
—"History of the Popes;' I., 341. 

For bare-faced fraud, this recognition of bones to be 

used as relics is hard to surpass. Two sets of monks 

' in possession of the same lot of dry bones, and the 

pope determining the matter by inspired recognition! 

Paschal I., 817-27, having need of some money, 
" adopted a singular expedient to cause alms to flow 
into his purse." He rebuilt the Church of St. Cecilia, 
placed her shrine upon the altar, destitute of her re- 
mains, and assembled the people to matins. He then 
feigned a sleep, and afterward reported the appear- 
ance of the saint, who spoke as follows: "Imperial 
priests and sacrilegious (!) pontiffs have already 
sought my mortal remains; but their eyes were 



RELICS AND MIRACLES. 99 

opened in obscurity, and their hands have lost their 
way in the darkness, for God had decided that it 
should be reserved for you alone to find my body." 
On speaking to him these words, she pointed with 
her hand to a spot in the cemetery of Pretextatus and 
disappeared. 

"Pascal woke at the same moment and informed 
the priests of this miraculous vision; he then went 
with his clergy to the place indicated; he himself 
took a spade, dug up the earth, and discovered the 
body of the saint clothed in a robe of tissue of gold; 
at her feet w^ere linen rags freshly impregnated with 
her blood, and by her side the bones of Valerian, her 
husband. The' pope caused these precious relics to 
be placed in a shrine glittering with precious stones, 
and to be solemnly transported into the church which 
he had founded in honor of St. Cecilia." Now, read- 
er, listen: 

"Ever since this miraculous discovery, the offer- 
ings of the faithful and the presents of pilgrims made 
the new church overflow with wealth, and augmented 
the riches of the holy father. 

" The same miracle, frequently renewed by the suc- 
cessors of the pontiff, has always encountered simple 
and credulous men. 

" ' This first success, says an old author' ' induced the 
holy father to fabricate saints for the purpose of selling 
their bones to all Christendom, and this traffic brought 
him in large sums of money." 

I italicize this paragraph because it shows how 
Rome gets her relics, and what she uses them for. 
Only study it, and you have " Ptome and relics " in a 
nutshell. The historian continues: 



100 THE DANGEB SIGNAL. 

"The writer might have added that this abomina- 
ble traffic extended itself promptly among the monks, 
who created thousands of saints, and kept an open 
market for the sale of the bones of apostles and 
martyrs — the wood of the true cross, of the hair of 
. . . St. Joseph, St. John the Baptist, the Virgin, 
etc"— "History of the Popes;' L, 21L 

An ignorant, credulous, and superstitious people 
become easy victims to the priests, wdio, through 
Rome's doctrines of purgatory, transubstantiation, 
relics, indulgences, infallibility, etc., "lord it" over 
their flocks. Their insatiable avarice, ever crying 
" Give, give," fails not to improve such a fine oppor- 
tunity of increasing their income as the sale of relics. 

" We have, within the last year, seen the citizens of 
Amiens, with the pomp of military array, and of rich- 
ly robed ecclesiastical dignitaries, go forth to meet 
the bones of a woman of wdiom nothing, absolutely 
nothing, is known except that she or her husband 
was probably born at Amiens. She, perhaps a Chris- 
tian, perhaps a. pagan, has been dragged from a Ro- 
man cemetery, with the sanction of the pope labeled 
a martyr and saint, and borne in triumph to a gor- 
geous shrine in a populous city, there to be adored as 
its protecting goddess. Within this same year,, also, 
we have seen in the official Gazette of Vienna the an- 
nouncement to its inhabitants that the tooth of St. 
Peter, given by Pius IX., the now reigning pope 
(1854), to the Emperor of Austria, and deposited in 
the imperial chapel, would be for four days exposed 
to the sight and reverence of the faithful!" — "The 
Catacombs of Rome" p. 15. 

The following, from the pen of Rev. Nicholas Mur- 



EELICS AND MIRACLES. 101 

ray, a converted Irish Catholic, is pointed: ""In the 
absence of your catalogue, I select a few of the rel- 
ics greatly venerated by papists, from, books of au- 
thority that lie before me. They are almost as amus- 
ing as your miracles. I will omit those too offensive 
to be named out of respect for you, my readers, and 
myself. 

"The arms, legs, fingers, and toes of the saints are 
greatly multiplied. There are eight arms of St. Mat- 
thew, three of St. John, and almost any number of St. 
Thomas a Becket. There are in the Church of Lat- 
eran the ark made by Moses in the wilderness, the rod 
of Moses, and the table on which the last supper was 
instituted by the Saviour. The table is entirely at 
Rome; but there are many pieces of it in other places./ 
On the altar of the Lateran are the heads of Peter 
and Paul entire; but there are pieces of them in Bil- 
boa, greatly honored by the monks. St. Peter's 
Church is blessed with the cross of the penitent thief; 
with the lantern of Judas; with the dice used by the 
soldiers in casting lots for the Saviour's garments; 
with the tail of Balaam's ass; and with the ax, saw, 
and hammer of St. Joseph./ Different churches are 
enriched with pieces of the wood of the cross; and 
were the pieces all brought together they would make 
a hundred crosses. In one church is some of the 
manna in the wilderness; in another, some blossoms 
from Aaron's rod; in another, an arm of St. Simon; 
in another, the picture of the Virgin, painted by 
Luke / in another, one of her combs; in an- 
other, the combs of the apostles, but little used; in 
•another, a part of the body of Lazarus, that smells; 
in another, a part of the Gospel of Mark in his own 



102 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

handwriting; in another a finger of St. Ann, the Vir- 
gin's sister; in another, St. Patrick's stick, with which 
he drove venomous reptiles from Ireland; in another, 
some of St. Joseph's breath, caught by an angel in a 
vial; in another, a piece of the rope with wdiich Ju- 
das hanged himself; in another, some of the Virgin's 
hair; in another, some of her milk. And the monks 
once showed among their relics the spear and shield 
with which Michael encountered the dragon of Eev- 
elation; and some relic-monger had a feather from 
the wing of the Holy Spirit when, taking the form of 
a clove, he abode upon Christ at his baptism! " 

Such blasphemy as this last! 

Dr. Murray asks Bishop Hughes, to whom these 
letters w T ere addressed, some pointed questions: 

"If relics ever performed miracles, why do they 
not perform some now? Is the virtue of all your old 
bones exhausted? Where is the holy coat of Treves? 
Where now are the pilgrims to the bones of Becket? 
Where is your shop in New York for the sale of holy 
teeth, and holy fingers, and holy bones, taken from 
the graves of the saints? Sir, the whole matter is 
one of the vilest impositions ever practiced upon the 
credulity of men. I do not charge you with believ- 
ing a word of it. I could almost as soon believe in 
the virtue of; the paring of tha toe-nails of some of 
your saints as admit that a man of your high sense 
can believe in these things." — "Kir arm's Letters," II, 
56-59. 

We are informed in the quotation from the 
"Grounds of Catholic Doctrine," at the opening of 
this chapter, of "many illustrious miracles done at» 
the tombs and by the relics of the saints." Some 



RELICS AND MIBACLES. 



samples of these miracles, we judge, will now be in 
order. Here they are: 

"The chroniclers relate a singular miracle per- 
formed on one of the lords in the train of Prince 
Otho, who was possessed of a deviL This unfort- 
unate man, in his paroxysms of fury, tore his face 
and bit his arms and hands with his teeth; the em- 
peror, deeply grieved by the state of his favorite, or- 
dered that the demoniac should be presented to the 
pontiff in order that he might place around his neck 
the famous chain of St. Peter. The pope (John XII., 
965-972) placed several chains in succession upon 
the possessed, which were made like that of St. Pe- 
ter's, which produced no effect; but as soon as the 
true one touched him a thick smoke issued from the 
body of the demoniac, frightful cries were heard in 
the air, and the demon was driven from his residence. . 
Thierry, Bishop of Metz, who was one of the wit- 
nesses of the miracle, was so enthusiastically im- 
pressed with the power of the apostolic chain, that 
he cast himself upon the young lord, seized the relic, 
and swore that he would never surrender it unless 
they cut off his arm. The holy father, who had di- 
rected all this jugglery, .consented to leave with the 
prelate the rings of it which he held in his hand, in 
order to put himself beyond the reach of unfavorable 
interpretations, if the same miracle were not pro- 
duced with the rings as with the entire chain." — "His- 
tory of the Popes;' I., 303, 304. 

"The devotion of the scapular* is the best of all 
those pious practices which the- Church authorizes, 

* Described in previous pages. 



104 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

because it has been confirmed by more frequent and 
well-authenticated miracles than any other. How 
many fires have been extinguished by it, whilst it has 
itself been preserved, whole and entire, in the midst 
of flames! How often have persons in danger of per- 
ishing by fire been so wonderfully protected by it that 
they passed through the burning flames without even 
a hair of their heads being singed! Its utility has 
more than once been proved in shipwrecks, as well 
as on other trying occasions, but especially in sick- 
ness. I should never end, were I to particularize the 
many instances in which the servants of Mary have 
been, preserved by it. 

"The limits usually prescribed to a sermon [the 
preceding paragraph was from a sermon!] prevented 
the Pere Colombiere from giving examples of the mi- 
raculous power of the scapular. We shall, however, 
relate a few well-attested miracles, which will prove 
that the devout servant of God had good grounds for 
his assertions: 

" 1. At the siege of Montpelier, in the year 1622, a 
soldier named M. de Beauregard was struck by a mus- 
ket-ball, but did not receive the slightest wound. 
. . . He was instantly undressed, when it was per- 
ceived that the ball, after penetrating his clothes, 
rested on the scapular which he wore, where it 
stopped, thus evidently proving that to it he owed 
the preservation of his life. Louis XIIL, King of 
France, who witnessed this miracle himself, imme- 
diately pat on this piece of heavenly armor. This 
miracle is placed beyond doubt, as it was witnessed 
by a numerous army! 

"2. Some missionaries from Perigueux were 



RELICS AND MIRACLES. 105 

preaching a mission in 1656 at Saint Aulay, a town 
in Saintouge^ A fire broke out in a house about 10 
o'clock at night, and raged with such violence that a 
great number of the inhabitants collected on the spot 
to give all the help they could under the circum- 
stances. Among the crowd was a worthy clergyman, 
who (recollecting that at Perigueux, about twenty 
years before, a great fire had been miraculously extin- 
guished by a scapular, which event had been inquired 
into and attested by the magistrate of the town) de- 
sired a young man, remarkable for his faith and pi- 
ety, and who happened to be on the spot, to take off 
his scapular and to throw it into the midst of the 
flames; 'and you will find,' he added, 'that they will 
be soon extinguished through the intercession of the 
blessed Virgin.' The young man hastened to obey, 
and, making his way through the crowd, threw his 
scapular into that part of the fire where it was raging 
most violently. At the same moment the flames 
seemed to ascend like a whirlwind, and the fire ceased 
burning. The scapular was found intact on the fol- 
lowing day in the midst of the burned remains of the 
house. The miracle was so apparent that some Cal- 
vinists who were present said among themselves, ' that 
young man is a sorcerer;' while the Catholics, on the 
other hand, praised God, and admired the virtue of 
the scapular." — "Scapular Book ," pp. 119-122. 

All this nonsense goes out from the Catholic pub- 
lishing house, New York, under " the. approbation of 
The Most Rev. John Hughes, D.D., late Archbishop 
of New York." And this is the nineteenth century, 
and in the United States of America, a land noted for 
religion and intelligence! Shades of the past! 



106 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

Vve add a few miracles from Milner, a noted Cath- 
olic writer: " Twenty years before it happened a nan 
predicted the fate of the King and Queen of France, 
Louis XVI. and his consort, who were beheaded. In 
1814 Joseph Lamb fell from a hay-rick and injured 
his spine. At Garswood, in England, is preserved 
the hand of one Arrowsmith, a priest, who was put to 
death at Lancaster in the reign of Charles I. Lamb 
was signed on the back by this hand, with the sign 
of the cross, and was instantly healed! Miss Win- 
ifred White, for some time diseased with a curvature 
of the spine, was healed in an instant of time by 
bathing in Holywell! " 

And the following from a review of the "Lives of 
the English Saints: 5 ' "Somewhere near York, St. 
Augustine restored a blind man to his sight. St. Sul- 
picius, when a mere child, drove away with the sign 
of the cross two black demons who strove to scare 
him from his devotions. St. x4.niatus miraculously 
stopped a lofty rock in the midst of its descent, with 
which a fiend sought to crush him in his cell. St. 
Mochua had to call the stags from the forest to feed 
the multitude of his followers. He ordered their 
picked bones to be placed in their skins, and by an 
incantation over the skins and bones the stags were 
brought to life, jumped up, and ran back to the 
woods. St. Euchadius did the same with an old 
favorite crow that he had to kill to provide meat for 
his guests. The piety of St. Fechin was so fervent 
that when he bathed himself in cold water the water 
became almost boiling hot. When St. Mochua wanted 
a fire in his cell he called down a fire from heaven to 
light it. St. Goar, of Treves, wanting a beam to hang 



Hi 



RELICS AND MIRACLES. 107 

up his cape, hung it on a sunbeam, where it remained 
until he took it down. St. Columbanus miraculously 
kept the grubs from his cabbage. When St. Mael 
was in want of fishes he caught them on dry ground; 
and St. Berach, when in want of fruit, made willows 
to bear apples. St. Fechin, when hungry, turned 
acorns into pork. In traveling he was stopped by a 
large tree which fell across his road. He commanded 
it to make way, and it instantly rose to its place. He 
built a mill on a hill-top. Being asked about the wa- 
ter, he went to the lake, a mile distant, into which he 
threw his stick; the stick followed him on his return, 
and the water after it, and the mill worked finely." — 
Quoted from "Kirwan's Letters," II., 35-37. 

What words of comment are necessary? Surely 
none. Such palpable fraud and superstition charac- 
terize Rome's relics and miracles that a simple re- 
cital of them is enough to disgust any intelligent per- 
son not in Rome's shackles. Her most ardent 
admirers surely would not circulate these supersti- 
tious legends among non-Catholics. 



The Bible and Tradition. 



" Bible Societies and other ' pests of this description,' are con- 
demned by the Syllabus of Pope Pius IX., December 8, 1864." — 
Philip Schoff. 

" I most steadfastly admit and embrace apostolical 
and ecclesiastical traditions." 

" I also admit the Holy Scripture according to that 
sense which our holy mother, the Church, has held 
and does hold; to which it belongs to judge of the 
true sense and interpretation of the Scriptures; nei- 
ther will I ever take and interpret them otherwise 
than according to the unanimous consent of the Fa- 
thers." — " Grounds, of Catholic Doctrine," p. 4. 

We consider this to be one of the most enslaving 
tenets of the Roman Catholic Church. By it the 
Scriptures are virtually excluded from the people, and 
Koine's traditions substituted. The tendency is to 
enslave the soul, benumb faith, becloud the intellect, 
sap the foundations of a wholesome Christian sys- 
tem, render the masses superstitious, and turn over 
the whole man, bound and fettered, to the whims of 
the pope, or the caprices of a self-assertive and avari- 
cious priesthood. 

The doctrine of tradition is built on this scripture: 
"Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the tradi- 
tions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or 
our epistle." "Now we command you, brethren, in 
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw 
(108) 



THE BIBLE AND TRADITION. 109 

yourselves from every brother that walketh disorder- 
ly, and not after the tradition which he received of 
us." (2Thess. ii. 15; iii. 6.) 

This only recognizes the " tradition which he re- 
ceived of us/' " whether by word or epistle." It there- 
fore evidently means their own words as written or 
spoken. Whatever doctrines and counsels were given 
them by the apostles in personal preaching or other 
instruction, and by their written words, were to be 
followed. This surely gives no authority for the per- 
petuation of a code of tradition that even surpasses 
the authority of the sacred writings. In Roman cir- 
cles it seems, to an outsider at least, that the Bible is 
more hampered than the traditions. The Scriptures 
are to be accepted only as the " Holy Mothe* Church" 
interprets them, and on the " unanimous consent of 
the Fathers." Traditions are accepted and held "most 
steadfastly," without any such restrictions.' I submit 
to any candid reader if this does not put the tradi- 
tion above the Scriptures. 

The Jews had fallen into ths same error in the days 
of Christ, and he administers this terrific rebuke: 
"Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why 
walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the 
elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands? He an- 
swered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias proph- 
esied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people 
honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far 
from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, 
teaching for doctrines the commandments, of men. 
For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold 
the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: 
and many other such like things ye do. And he said 



110 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

unto tliem, Full well ye reject the commandment of 
God, that ye may keep your own tradition." "Mak- 
ing the word of God of none effect through your tra- 
dition, which ye have delivered: and many such like 
things do ye." (Markvii. 5-9, 13.) 

In this day, if Jesus were here, he would no doubt 
repeat the same fearful denunciations, simply substi- 
tuting the Church of Rome for the Pharisees. Rome 
teaches "for doctrines the commandments of men" — 
popes, cardinals, bishops, councils, etc. ; and she hurls 
fearful curses at all unfortunate heretics who choose 
to follow the holy w^ord of God according to the dic- 
tates of their own reason, enlightened by prayer, faith, 
investigation, and the humbly sought, gladly received 
aid of th^ blessed Holy Spirit. 

Rome "lays aside " and evidently " rejects the com- 
mandments of God that she may keep her own tradi- 
ditions." Thus she " makes the word of God of none 
effect through her tradition." Reason must be fet- 
tered and the holy Scriptures nullified at the bidding 
of this bold competitor with Almighty God for ai~u 
thority over the consciences of men. The Bible we 
know, and by the Holy Spirit's manifestation of grace 
we may humbly say God w T e know, but of Rome we 
may well ask: Who are you? 

What authority has Rome to claim the exclusive 
right to interpret Scripture? Is there any passage of 
God's word that accords her this high prerogative? 
Paul said to Timothy : " From a child thou hast 
known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make 
thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in 
Christ Jesus." (2 Tim. iii. 15.) He makes no ref- 
erence here to tradition or the "unanimous consent 



THE BIBLE AND TRADITION. Ill 

of the Fathers," or even of the apostles themselves. 
He teaches the truth that " the holy Scriptures are 
able to make one wise unto salvation," provided he 
will exercise faith in Christ Jesus. Timothy was 
taught the Scriptures in his own home in childhood, 
and we have no account of the traditions holding any 
place in the curriculum of the young disciple's spir- 
itual schooling. To the above quotation the great 
apostle immediately adds: "All Scripture is given by 
inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for 
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteous- 
ness: that the man of God may be perfect, thor- 
oughly furnished unto all good works." (Verses 16, 
17.) 

Sublime truth ! It has long been obscured by Eoine ! 
God inspired the Scriptures far the instruction of his 
people. By their aid the man of God may be perfect, 
and well equipped for the battle with sin and for the 
work of God. But the Catholic hierarchy, denying 
the sufficiency of the inspired Scriptures, shelves the 
Word of God, practically labels it, "Poison; handle 
with care, only under the unanimous consent of the 
Fathers;" and meantime she measures out to her 
poor, starving sheep careful dishes of "ecclesiastical 
and apostolical tradition," which she claims as her 
peculiar privilege because Peter (her first pope! ?) 
was commissioned by Christ to "feed his sheep." 

We would commend to our Catholic friends the 
example of the Bereans: "These were more noble 
than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the 
word with all readiness of mind, and searched the 
Scriptures daily, whether those things were so." 
(Acts xvii. 11.) Or hear Jesus: "Search the Script- 



112 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

nres; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and 
they are they which testify of me." (John v. 39.) 

Thus the Bible is held up to us as the rule of faith, 
while tradition is nowhere offered us as an authority 
in the sense of a perpetual rule in the Church, but is 
unequivocally condemned when it usurps the place of 
God's Word, as we have shown to be the case in tho 
Church of Rome. 

St. Paul's advice to the Colossians is appropriate: 
" Beware lest any man spoil you through the tradi- 
tion of men." (Col. ii. 8.) The warnings uttered in • 
the Bible against such as take from or add to its com- 
pleted canon of sacred truth are pointed, and fall with 
terrific force against Rome's course in dealing with 
the Scriptures: " Ye shall not add unto the word which 
I command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from 
it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord 
your God which I command you." (Deut. iv. 2.) "For 
I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the 
prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto 
these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that 
are written in this book: and if any man shall take 
away from the words of the book of this projjhecy, 
God shall take away his part out of the book of life, 
and out of the holy city, and from the things which 
are written in this book." (Rev. xxii. 18, 19.) 

But if asked wherein the Roman Catholic Church 
" takes from" or "adds to" the Word of God, we an- 
swer: 

1. In adding her traditions. 

2. In adding the demand for a " unanimous consent 
of the Fathers." 

3. In adding the apochryphal books. 



THE BIBLE AND TRADITION. 113 

4. In taking away the simple study of the Script- 
ures as " the only rule and the sufficient rule of faith 
and practice." 

1. I have already said enough on my first proposition 
as to traditions. Let us briefly examine the others. 

2. Rome requires her adherents to take and inter- 
pret the Scriptures no otherwise than according to 
the unanimous consent of the Fathers. By the Fa- 
thers she means, we suppose, the writers and teach- 
ers, bishops, popes, preachers, and councils of the 
past, mainly those of the first few centuries. To 
what can we get their unanimous consent? We think 
we might safely say that there is not a scriptural — no, 
not even a papal — dogma to which we could get their 
unanimous consent. We suggest a few difficulties on 
this line. Facts are stubborn things: 

"The Council of Nice, in 325 A.D., and of Eph- 
esus, in 431, decree with an anathema 'that no new 
article forever shall be added to the Creed of Faith 
of Nice.' But the Council of Trent more than twelve 
hundred years after (that of Nice) added twelve new 
articles to this very creed, pronouncing an anathema 
on all who will not embrace them. If the former was 
right, the latter was wrong; if the latter was right, 
the former was wrong; therefore neither the one nor 
the other can be regarded infallible. 

"The Council of Laodicea, in A.D. 360 or 370, and 
the Council of Trent, in 1545, have decided in direct 
opposition to each other respecting the canon of 
Scripture. The former decided on the canon which 
Protestants acknowledge, rejecting the Apocrypha, 
and the latter pronounced the Apocrypha to be ca- 
nonical. 



114 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

" The Council of Constantinople, in 754, unanimous- 
ly decreed the removal of images and the abolition of 
image- worship; but the second Council of Nice de- 
creed that image-worship should be established." — 
Elder Thomas P. Haley, in "Popular Lectures" 270. 

Since the Roman Catholic will not believe any 
thing on which he cannot get the unanimous consent 
of the Fathers, he is here excluded from image-wor- 
ship, the use of the apocrypha, and an important (to 
him ) part of his creed. But still Rome teaches him 
the rejected doctrines! 

Pope Gregory the Great, A.D. 590-604, condemned 
the dogma of papal infallibility and supremacy in the 
following strong language: "I confidently say that 
whosoever calls himself universal bishop, or desires 
to be called so in his pride, is the forerunner of anti- 
christ, because in his pride he prefers himself to the 
rest." "The editor of the late pope's speeches [Pope 
Pius IX. }, Rev. Don Pasquale, speaks of the inspired 
(!) author in this way: 'He is the portentous Father 
of the nations; he is the living Christ; he is the voice 
of God; he is nature that protests; he is God that 
condemns.' " * 

One of the pontiff's titles is " Dominus Deus Noster 
Papa," " Our Lord God the Pope." " I could give you 
many more such blasphemous titles from Romish au- 
thors, but I spare you. The apostle Peter lifted up 
Cornelius, and refused to let him kneel before him. 
Does the Pope of Rome do likewise? No, by no 
means. I have seen the late pope (Pius IX.), seated 
upon a throne, borne into the cathedral on the 

*See " Speeches of Pope Pius IX.," by Right Hon" W. E. Glad- 
stone. 



THE BIBLE AND TRADITION. 115 

shoulders of men. Tlie 'faithful' kneeled before 
him as to a god. You would expect the successor of 
Peter to object; but no, he snuffed up with compla- 
cency, like Herod of old, the impious incense, and, 
smiling blandly, he waved his hand to and fro, scat- 
tering his blessings over the kneeling idolaters. Y6t 
this modern Herod claimed to be the vicar' of the 
meek and lowly Nazarene." — Be v. John A. Wilson, in 
"Popular Lectures;' 209, 210. 

Let the reader see 2 Thessalonians ii. 3, 4. 

How can we get the unanimous consent of the 
popes on universal supremacy? N 

The Fathers have never agreed on any thing except 
to disagree. They have taught all sorts of doctrines, 
and been on all sides of all the questions that are now 
embraced in the creed of Rome. Tertullian was a 
Montanist, and his views are now anathematized by 
the Church of Home. Still, he was one of " the Fa- 
thers." Eusebius was an Arian. Origen is said to 
have taught* Universalism. "St. Clement was an 
Arian; Anastasius, a Nestorian; Honorius, a Monoth- 
elite; John the Twenty-second, an atheist; and did 
not Sylvester the Second say he had sold his soul to 
the devil-to become pope? " — "History of the Popes" I., 
231. 

But a good Catholic must accept no interpretation 
of the holy Scriptures on which he cannot obtain the 
"unanimous consent" of these Fathers, discordant 
and unsound in doctrine as they were. Must we have 
no mind of our own while searching the Scriptures? 
If not, it will do us no good to read, for we have to for- 
get all we learn from the Word itself and get our in- 
formation from the Church and the Fathers. If what 



116 THE DANGEK SIGNAL. 

I learn from the Bible agrees with the teachings of 
the Church, I may believe it; but what has been 
gained, since the Church has to come between me and 
the Bible ? I had just as well make short work and 
go to the Church instead of the Bible. If what I un- 
derstand the Bible to teach does not agree with the 
counsels of the Church, I am bound to reject the 
Bible on the authority of the Church. By this rule 
the Church is a higher authority than the Bible, and 
is therefore to be heard and obeyed instead of the 
Bible. A logical conclusion is about this: I may or 
I may not be allowed to follow the Bible; but I must 
obey the Church. Therefore the Church is of great- 
er authority than the Bible. Now further: To study 
and follow the Scriptures I may become a heretic; to 
study and obey the teachings of the Church and the 
Fathers, I cannot fall into error; therefore I will 
study the teachings of the Church, not the Bible. 

These are logical conclusions; and while Rome will 
bitterly dispute that she excludes the Bible from her 
devotees, yet the fact remains that Roman Catholics 
are not a Bible-loving, a Bible-studying people. She 
has obscured the word of God, and buried it under 
the traditions of men and the rubbish of the teach- 
ings of the Fathers. 

3. But Rome is under the curse of God for adding 
the apocryphal books to the canon of Scripture. 

"The authority of these books is not recognized by 
the (Protestant) Church, because they are destitute 
of proper testimonials, their original being obscure, 
their authors unknown, and their character either 
heretical or suspected. The advocates of the Church 
of Rome indeed affirm that some of these books are 



THE BIBLE AND TRADITION. 117 

divinely inspired, but it is easy to account for this: 
the apocryphal writings serve to countenance some 
of the corrupt practices of that Church." — "Watson's 
Theo. Diet;' art, "Apoc" 

We urge the rejection of these writings because: 

1. The Jewish Church never accepted them as inspired; 
but they did accept the Old Testament Scriptures. 
" To them were committed the oracles of God." 
(Rom. iii. 2.) If God committed to them his oracles, 
the books they surrender to us must be the sacred 
canon. They were in charge of that canon till the 
Christian era began, and they did not acknowledge 
the authority of the books called apocryphal. 

2. These books were rejected by Christ and his apos- 
tles. 

How do we know this? Because (1) they never 
quoted them; (2) they condemned the Jews for their 
sins, but never mentioned the rejection of the Apoc- 
rypha as one of their sins. But had these books be- 
longed to the sacred canon, "the oracles of God," 
Christ and his disciples would have denounced the 
Jews for taking from the word of God, as they were 
reproved for supplanting the Scriptures with their 
traditions. Borne sins more than the Pharisees, for 
she adds to the word of God both her traditions and 
the Apocrypha; the Jews were unsparingly reproved 
for adding only their traditions. 

3. They were not admitted to the list of canonical books 
by any of the early councils. 

Why did not the Councils of Nice or Laoclicea ac- 
cept them ? Why wait till the Council of Trent in the 
sixteenth century to admit their authority? The 
earlier councils were nearer to the days of Christ, 



118 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

and should have known better. " They are not men- 
tioned in the catalogue of inspired writings made by 
Melito, Bishop of Sardis, who flourished in the sec- 
ond century, nor in those of Origen in the third cent- 
ury, of Athanasius, Hilary, Cyril of Jerusalem, Epi- 
phanius a Gregory Nazianzen, Aniphilochus, Jerome, 
Rufinus, and others of the fourth century." — *WaU 
son's Dictionary" in loc. 

Since Catholics have promised to accept nothing in 
interpretation of Scripture on which they cannot get 
the " unanimous consent of the Fathers," they are 
compelled to reject the teachings of the " Holy Moth- 
er Church" as to the authority of the Apocrypha. 
Thus, as in many other cases, Rome is against her- 
self, and therefore riot infallible. Hence it is no sin to 
reject her interpretation of Scripture and arrogant 
claims of universal supremacy. She is under con- 
demnation on high for adding to the Word of God. 

4. But further: These books do not claim to be in- 
spired. 

If they were of God, their inspiration would have^ 
been claimed, no doubt, by their authors. But this 
they did not do. The author of the book of Ecclesi- 
asticus said in his prologue: " Pardon us, wherein 
we may seem to come short of some words which we 
have labored to interpret." How does this apology 
sound for an inspired work? No man speaking by 
the authority and inspiration of God would dare to 
thus compromise the divine word. 

Likewise the author of the books of the Maccabees 
apologizes for his work: "Here will I make an end. 
If I have done well, and as is fitting the story, it is 
that which Tdesired; but if slenderly and meanly, it 



THE BIBLE AND TRADITION. 119 

is that which I could attain unto." (2 Mac. xv. 37, 
38. ) Was this man inspired, and yet apologizing for 
words indited by the Holy Ghost? No writer speak- 
ing on God's authority could do this. 

"For the prophecy came not in old time by the 
will of man: but holy men of God spake as they 
were moved by the Holy Ghost." (2 Pet. i. 21.) 

From these arguments we condemn the Roman au- 
thorities for taking the Bible from the people as the 
only rule of faith, the final arbiter of all questions. 

If it be objected that the Scriptures are not forbid- 
den to Catholics, since many of them have Bibles, and 
all may, we reply: 

1. While, especially in Protestant lands, Catholics 
may and do own Bibles, yet "the Church" has so 
hedged them round that the word of God does not 
speak to Catholics as God's word with unlimited 
authority. They cannot follow it, but must inquire 
what the Church and the Fathers teach. Thus she 
makes " the word of God of none effect through her 
traditions," and this is a virtual prohibition of the 
Scriptures. 

2. But Borne has actually forbidden the Bible to 
the people in other days, as the following clearly 
shows: 

" The fourth rule of index of the Council of Trent 
says: ' Forasmuch as the reading of the Scriptures in 
the vulgar tongue has been productive of more evil 
than good, it is expedient that they be not translated 
into the vulgate, or read or possessed by any one 
without a written license from the inquisitor or the 
bishop of the diocese.' Pope Clement, in his famous 
bull 'Unigenitus,' quotes certain propositions, as fol- 



120 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

lows: 'The reading of the Scriptures is for all men,' 
and 'to forbid Christians the reading of the holy 
Scriptures is to interdict the use of light to the sons 
of light,' and condemns these and similar propositions 
in the following strong language: 'We declare and 
condemn, and reprobate these as false, captious, ill- 
sounding, offensive to pious ears, impious, blasphe- 
mous, suspected of heresy and savoring of heresy.' 
Now remember that the decree of infallibility not 
only declared Pius IX. infallible, but was retroactive, 
and declared that all Peter's successors had been in- 
fallible; therefore this formal dictum of Clement as 
to the dreadful danger of permitting all persons to 
read the Bible is, and must be, the belief of the pres- 
ent Pope Leo XIII., and of the whole Roman Catho- 
lic Church of to-day." — Rev. J. G. Wilson, in "Popular 
Lectures;' 224, 225. 

Pope Pius IX. is thus quoted on Bible Societies: 
" We have been truly shocked at this most crafty de- 
vice, by which the very foundations of religion are 
undermined. We have deliberated upon the meas- 
ures proper to be adopted by our pontifical authority, 
in order to remedy and abolish this "pestilence, as far 
as possible, this defilement of the faith, so imminently 
dangerous to souls. It is evident from experience that 
the holy Scriptures, when circulated in the vulgar 
tongue, have, through the temerity of men, produced 
more harm than benefit. Warn the people intrusted 
to your care, that they fall not into the snares pre- 
pared for their everlasting ruin. Several of our pred- 
ecessors have made laws to turn aside this scourge." 
—"Papacy and the Civil Power;'- 208, 209. 

In treating of the spirit of popery in the seventh 



THE BIBLE AND TKADITION. 121 

century, De Cormenin makes some remarks pertinent 
to the subject before us: " The popes substituted their 
caprices for the laws of the Bible, and preserved the 
authority they had usurped by fraudulently employing 
the name of Christ to oppress men. At length their 
boldness became such that they dared to say: 'Peo- 
ple, listen! We, who are the interpreters of supreme 
wisdom, declare to you that truth flows from our 
mouth; that we have the right to impose on you our 
belief; and he who shall not preach and teach that 
which we preach and teach shall be excommunicated, 
were he Jesus Christ himself!'" — "History of the 
Popes," L, 134. 

This seems very much like the spirit of Rome. 
Remember Beringer, Galileo, Glynn, et al. Prot- 
estantism preaches, teaches, and circulates the Word 
of God, which is essential to a true Christian life, to 
the highest development of man, and to religious 
freedom. 

We cannot close this chapter better, perhaps, than 
with the following from the pen of Bishop Marvin, in 
which he contrasts the theory of Borne with Christ's 
teachings in several points. Christ's teaching is to be 
found in the Scriptures; much of Rome's in tradition 
and paganism: 

" The chief points of contrast between the minis- 
ters of the pope's Church and those of Christ's, as 
they occur to me, are these: 

" 1. The former are priests; the latter are preachers 
of the gospel. 

"2. The former assume to forgive sins by a per- 
sonal judicial act; the latter preach remission of sins 
in the name of Christ. 



122 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

"3. Ministers are required to be 'blameless,' while 
priests of Home, as expressly provided by the Coun- 
cil of Trent, are allowed to officiate (while) in mortal 
sin. 

"4. Christian ministers are, or may be, husbands, 
living chastely with one wife; but priests are invari- 
ably required to be celibates. Concubinage is, in 
some places, tolerated, as in Mexico. But they are 
nowhere allowed to be married men. In all this the 
two systems are at antipodes. 

"5. The Romish priesthood is a stupendous hie- 
rarchy, while the Christian ministry is, in respect to 
government, a pastoral institution. 

"6. The Romish claim of apostolic powers is in 
striking contrast with the unpretending modesty of 
New Testament pastors and teachers. The one is 
characterized by pretentious assumptions; the other 
by unpretending labors. 

" 7. The one invests a great mass of silly traditions 
with the character of revelation; the other confines 
itself in teaching to the Word of God. 

" 8. The one assumes the godlike prerogative of 
prying into the secrets of all hearts in the confes- 
sional; the other sends the penitent with the secret 
burden of his sins to God. 

" These contrasts might be multiplied, but let this 
suffice. 

" These astounding contrasts convey a most solemn 
warning to the Church. Her only safety is in the 
Scriptures of God. If her uninspired teachers are 
allowed to break loose from them and make their own 
dogmas, security is gone. The wild creations of un- 
fettered fancy, and the proud ambitions of aspiring 



THE BIBLE AND TRADITION. 123 

zealots, will be wrought into the Christian creed, and 
wholly corrupt it. The Church will fall from its 
original righteousness. Superstition will supplant 
faith. And the very prerogatives of the Almighty 
will be assumed with unhesitating temerity by poor, 
frail, sinful man. 

"But the gates of hell shall not prevail. The great 
waters may come in like a flood for a time, but in the 
midst of their roaring God will still be saying to his 
people: 'Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's 
good pleasure to give you the kingdom.' The whole 
earth shall ultimately rally to the Bible, and then 
righteousness shall cover it as the waves of the sea." 
— "Errors of the Papacy" 



Indulgences,, Absolution, and Excom- 
munication. 



" I also affirm that the power of indulgences was 
left by Christ in the Church, and that the use of them 
is most wholesome to Christian people." 

"Ques. What do you mean by indulgences? 

"Ans. Not leave to commit sin, nor pardon for sins 
to come; but only releasing, by the power of the keys 
committed to the Church, the debt of temporal pun- 
ishment, which may remain due upon account of cur 
sins, after the sins themselves, as to the guilt and 
eternal punishment, have been already remitted by 
contrition, confession, and absolution." — " Grounds of 
Catholic Doctrine" 6, 68, 

" Ques. What is the form of absolution? 

"Ans. 3d. Our Lord Jesus Christ absolve thee, and 
I, by his authority absolve thee, in the first place, 
from every bond of excommunication or interdict, as 
far as I have power and thou standest in need; in 
the next place, I absolve thee from all thy sins, in 
the name of the Father, + and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost. Amen." — "Catholic Christian Institu- 
tion r 126. 

The Form of Excommunication. 
"The following is the form of excommunication 
used on ordinary occasions. The original Latin may 
be found in the 'Edinburg Encyclopedia,' under the 
article ' Excommunication:' 
(124) 



INDULGENCES, ABSOLUTION, EXCOMMUNICATION. 125 

" In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Ghost, and of our blessed and Most Holy Lady Mary ; also by 
the power of the angels, archangels, etc., we separate M. and N. 
from the bosom of the Holy Mother Church, and condemn them 
with the anathema of a perpetual malediction. And may they 
be cursed in the city, cursed in the field, cursed be their barn, 
and cursed be their store ; cursed be the fruit of their womb and 
the fruit of their land, cursed be their coming in and going out. 
Let them be cursed in the house and fugitives in the field ; and 
let all the curses come upon them which the Lord by Moses 
threatened to bring on the people who forsook the divine law; 
and let them be anathema maranatha — that is, let them perish 
at the second coining of the Lord. Let no Christian say an Ave 
[how do you do?] to them. Let no priest presume to celebrate 
mass w T ith them, or give them the holy communion. Let them 
be buried with the burial of an ass, and be dung upon the face 
of the earth. And as these lights are this day cast out of our 
hands and extinguished, so let their lights be put out forever, 
unless they repent, and by amendment and condign penance, 
make satisfaction to the Church of God which they have in- 
jured. 

Bell, Book, and Candle. 
" In noticing the forms given above, it will be seen 
that reference is made to these three articles we have 
named. A Catholic priest has recently stated that 
these are now rarely heard of except in Catholic coun- 
tries, as in parts of Spain and Italy. They are either 
too ridiculous or too fiendish to be performed in an 
enlightened country. The offending one was sum- 
moned to attend, the ceremony was given by the ring- 
ing of a bell, and the decree was read out of a book 
by the priest, and then the w r ords pronounced: 'To 
dwell in the flames of hell forever without end. Fiat 
Fiat. Close the book, quench the candle, ring the 
bell. Amen; amen.' As this was said the book was 
clapped together, the candle blown out, and the bells 



126 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

rung with the most terrible noise, while the congrega- 
tion bewailed the black doom of the accursed person. 

" These ridiculous forms, adopted to inspire terror 
and enslave the ignorant and superstitious, are not 
resorted to in this country. They would be laughed 
at even by Romanist children w r ho have attended pub- 
lic schools. There is too much light shining for such 
owlish display. But Romanism is the same in spirit 
and in purpose through all its ages and in all lands." 

I have taken the above "form," with the comments, 
from the Christian Repository, whose editor, Rev. Dr. 
S. H. Ford, is an able and reliable antagonist of the 
unparalleled assumptions of apostate Rome. 

We are told that an indulgence is not a leave to 
commit sin, nor a pardon for sins to come. We shall 
show, however, that it has been so used by Rome's 
"infallible popes! " Absolution is the forgiveness of 
sin by the priest. Excommunication is not simply 
the expulsion of unworthy members from Church- 
membership, but it vainly assumes to consign the of- 
fender to the tornients of perdition. A notable point 
in the Discipline of Rome is that excommunication is 
more commonly used for heresy, frequently in insig- 
nificant matters, than for vice and crime. A Catholic 
may dance, drink intoxicants, sell liquor, lie, swear, 
steal, and the wrathful fires of excommunication slum- 
ber on; but only let a Beringer deny that hollow sham 
of transubstantiation, or a Galileo teach scientific 
truth unknown in the shades of Rome; or a McGlynn 
follow the land vagaries of Henry George, and forth- 
with the Vatican thunders roll, and the Romish vol- 
cano belches forth enough curses to deluge the poor 
soul for time and eternity. 



INDULGENCES, ABSOLUTION, EXCOMMUNICATION. 127 

And her authority she claims in the keys, which 
bind and loose on earth and in heaven. (Matt. xvi. 
19.) The evident meaning of the passage is that the 
gospel is the keys, since it saves such as accept it 
and condemns all who reject it. Thus those bound or 
loosed by the preaching of the gospel are bound or 
loosed in heaven. The effect of the gospel, accept- 
ed, is personal, experimental deliverance from sin, 
and this will be ratified in heaven ; but if the truths 
of the gospel are rejected, the soul becomes enslaved 
to sin, and this bond is recognized and confirmed in 
heaven. But no priest, preacher, or other man, or 
Church, has the power to pardon sin or condemn the 
soul to hell. And such Divine prerogatives were 
never claimed by the early Christians, or even by the 
apostles themselves. 

"We introduce the following pointed testimony of 
Rev. Nicholas Murray. He was reared a Catholic, 
and has carefully studied the subject: "By your pow- 
er of binding or loosing, you can send a man to heav- 
en or hell, you can inflict any punishment you see fit, 
and you can demand of the penitent for indulgence 
any ' good works ' you see fit. Here is, sir, the key 
which unlocks a chamber in your Church filled with 
rottenness and putrefaction more foul and filthy than 
the world has ever seen. Need I revert to the traffic 
in indulgences so zealously promoted by your popes 
in past days? Need I point you to their wholesale 
manufacture by your popes; to their selling them by 
wholesale to tribes of vagabond monks, who hawked 
them all over Europe at prices to suit purchasers? 
The pope drove as good a bargain as he could with 
the monks, and the monks with the people. For the 



128 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

indulgence which a poor peasant could purchase for 
a few pennies, a prince must pay pounds. The com- 
mon sense of the world was insulted; the yoke of 
Eome became too heavy for the nations longer to 
bear; a poor monk discovered a copy of the Bible, 
and its truths filled his mind and his soul; strong in 
the Lord, he went out from his dark cell with the 
lamp of life in his hand; the Reformation follows. 
And for the exposure of her frauds and wickedness 
your Church has sent [pretended to! J that j)oor monk 
to a place where the efficacy of seven sacraments — of 
all masses, of all indulgences — can never reach him. 

"But you will say all this was the abuse of the 
thing. My dear sir, your doctrines of relics and in- 
dulgences have no use — they are all abuse. Guard 
them as you may in your catechisms and books, prac- 
tically they are all abuse. Millions have prayed at 
the 'tombs of your saints, who never offered an intel- 
ligent prayer to God through his Son. Millions have 
worshiped your relics who never worshiped God in 
Spirit and in truth. 

"And millions have sought deliverance from sin by 
your. penances, and extreme unctions and indulgences, 
who never sought it through the blood of Jesus Christ. 
And at this hour many of your churches in Rome are 
nothing but spiritual shops for the sale of indul- 
gences. 

" The frauds which your Church has practiced on 
the world by her relics and indulgences are enor- 
mous. If practiced by the merchants of New York 
in their commercial transactions, they would send 
every man of them to State prison." — "Kirn-mi's Let- 
ters;' II., 62, 63. 



INDULGENCES, ABSOLUTION, EXCOMMUNICATION. 129 

We add the following from D'Aubigne: 

He shows how the doctrine of penance, by which 
transgressors were required to suffer severe penalties 
for greater or less periods of time, led to the kindred 
dogma of indulgence. Priests would agree, for a 
price generally, to relinquish the demands through 
the fund of the Church gained by the merit of Christ 
and the good w T orks of the saints. But these pen- 
ances would frequently, as the penitent's sins multi- 
plied, lengthen into years of fastings, self-denials, 
flagellations, and other assessed sufferings. The pen- 
itent would look to death as a final settlement of 
these demands of the priests. Then Home added the 
pagan doctrine of purgatory so death could not de- 
liver her victim from her clutches. Thus she secured 
her devotee to herself for time and for eternity. To 
this she also applied her sale of indulgences. The 
living would pay the priests to deliver their dead from 
the flames of purgatory. -"Who could refuse the 
money that, dropped into the treasury of Rome, re- 
deemed the soul from such horrible torments?" 

"Hitherto it had been the sins of the living that 
had been turned to profit; they now began to avail 
themselves of the sins of the dead. In the thirteenth 
century it was declared that the living might, by mak- 
ing certain sacrifices, shorten or even terminate the 
torments their ancestors and friends were enduring 
iii purgatory. Instantly the compassionate hearts 
of the faithful offered new treasures for the 
priests. 

" To regulate this traffic they invented shortly aft- 
er, probably in the pontificate of John XXIL, the cel- 
ebrated and scandalous tax of indulgences, of which 
9 



130 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

more than forty editions are extant." — "History of the 
Reformation" /., 29-31. 

Touching this same matter, De Cormenin says: 
" We translate some of the articles of this infamous 
. code, which alone should be sufficient to cause popes 
and their satellites to be held in detestation, if the 
list of their crimes had not already taught us that 
they were the most implacable enemies of hu- 
manity. 

" Priests who shall wish to obtain authority to live 
in concubinage with their relatives shall pay seventy- 
six francs, one sou. 

"An adulterous woman who desires absolution to 
place her beyond the reach of all pursuit, and to have 
a free dispensation to continue her guilty relations, 
shall pay to the pope eighty-seven francs, three sous. 
In a like case, a husband shall be submitted to the 
same tax. If they have committed incest with their 
children, they shall add six francs. 

"Absolution and assurance against all pursuit for 
the crimes of rapine, robbery, and incendiarism shall 
cost the guilty one hundred and thirty-one francs, 
seven sous. 

"Absolution for the simple murder of a layman is 
taxed at fifteen francs, four sou's, eight denier s. If 
the assassin has slain several persons on the same 
day, he shall pay no more. 

"A husband who shall have rudely struck his wife 
shall pay into the chancellery three francs, four sous; 
if he kills her, he shall pay seventeen francs, fifteen 
sous; if he has committed this crime to marry anoth- 
er woman, he shall pay besides thirty-two francs, 
nine sous. They who shall have assisted the hus- 



INDULGENCES, ABSOLUTION, EXCOMMUNICATION. 131 

band in the murder shall be absolved on the payment 
of two francs a head. 

"He who shall have murdered his child shall pay 
seventeen francs, fifteen sous. If the father and 
mother shall have slain their child by mutual consent, 
they shall pay twenty-seven francs, one sou, for abso- 
lution. 

"For the murder of a brother, a sister, a mother, 
or a father, they shall pay seventeen francs, fifteen 
sous! 

"He who would buy absolution in advance for 
every accidental ( ! ) murder which he may in future 
commit, shall pay one hundred and sixty-eight francs, 
fifteen sous. 

"A converted heretic shall pay tw T o hundred and 
sixty-nine francs for his absolution. The son of a 
burned Ijeretic, or one put to death by any othek tort- 
URE, shall not be re-instated until he has paid into the 
chancellery two hundred and eighteen francs, seven- 
teen sous. [Rather hard on heretics. — P.] 

"An ecclesiastic who cannot pay his debts, and who 
wishes to avoid the pursuits of his creditors, shall 
give to the pope seventeen francs, nine sous, and his 
debts shall be remitted. 

"For smuggling and defrauding a prince of his 
dues, they shall pay eighty-seven francs. 

"He who shall desire to break his oath, and be 
guaranteed from all pursuit and all infamy, shall pay 
to the pope one hundred and thirty-one francs, fifteen 
sous. He shall pay three francs a head besides for 
those who shall have become his guarantees." 

We have omitted a good many of the items for 
brevity and for decency. 



132 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

The historian adds: "We will make bo comments 
on this tax of the apostolic chancellery, a master- 
piece of infamy, sprung from the brain of a pope, 
and containing in a few pages all the secrets of an 
institution which weighed down people and kings for 
more than fourteen centuries. The pious Conrad, 
abbot of Usperg, thus speaks of the book of the 
taxes of the Eomau chancellery: 

" s Vatican, rejoice now, all treasures are open to 
thee; thou canst draw in with full hands! Rejoice 
in the crimes of the children of men, since thy wealth 
depends on their abandonment and iniquity. Urge 
on to debauchery, excite to rape, incest, even parri- 
cide; for the greater the crime, the more gold it will 
bring thee. Rejoice thou! shout forth songs of glad- 
ness! Now the human race is subjected to thy laws! 
Now thou reignest through depravity of morals and 
the inundation of ignoble thoughts. The children 
of men can now commit with impunity every crime, 
since they know that thou wilt absolve them for a lit- 
tle gold. Provided he brings thee gold, let him be 
soiled with blood and lust; thou wilt open the king- 
dom to debauchees, sodomites, assassins, parricides. 
What do I say? Thou wilt sell God himself for 
gold.' 

"In fact," De Cormenin continues, "the tax exact- 
ed by John the Twenty-second became for the popes, 
his successors, one of the most vast and fruitful fi- 
nancial operations that the avarice and infernal gen- 
ius of the pontiffs ever invented." — "History of the 
Popes^ IL, 54, 55. 

Of indulgences the learned Richard Watson has 
said: "The bare statement of this doctrine is a suffi- 



INDULGENCES, ABSOLUTION, EXCOMMUNICATION. 133 



cient refutation of it; and it is scarcely necessary to 
add that it lias.no foundation whatever in Scripture. 
It is an arrogant and impious usurpation of a power 
which belongs to God alone, and it has an obvious 
tendency to promote licentiousness and sin of every 
description by holding out an easy and certain 
method of absolution. The popes derived very large 
sums from the sale of these indulgences, and it is 
well known that the gross abuses practiced in grant- 
ing them w^ere among the immediate and principal 
causes of bringing about the reformation. They con- 
tinue still to be sold in Rome, and are to be purchased 
by any who are weak enough to buy them." — "Wat- 
son's Did.," art. "Indulg" 

James D. McCabe, the historian, says in his book, 
"Cross and Crown:" "Pope Innocent resolved that 
the Yaudois should no longer exist, and in 1487 he 
proclaimed a general crusade against them, and sum- 
moned all the Catholic powers of Europe to take up 
arms for their extermination, ' absolving beforehand 
all who should take part in this crusade from all ec- 
clesiastical penalties, general or special, setting them 
free from the obligation of vows which they might 
have made, legitimatizing their possession of goods 
which they might have wrongfully acquired, and con- 
cluding with a promise of the remission of all sins to 
every one who should slay a heretic. Moreover, he 
annulled all contracts subscribed in favor of the Vau- 
dois, commanded their domestics to abandon them, 
forbade any one to give them any assistance, and au- 
thorized all and sundry to seize upon their goods.' " 
— "Cross and Crown" 35. 

We have been thus particular to introduce the tes- 



134 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

timony of several different witnesses from botli Cath- 
olic and Protestant ranks, because: 

1. In her creed Rome especially denies that indul- 
gences is a leave to commit sin, or pardon for future 
sins. 

Of course she would not so advertise her doctrines 
to the world. This w T ould be suicidal. It w r ould be 
folly to publish such a doctrine to all the world in a 
creed. And we do not expect her to acknowledge it 
even now. This w r ould be pleading guilty in open 
court. We expect her to continue in the face of his- 
tory to plead her innocence; but the verdict of im- 
partial readers must be: Guilty of selling a license to 
sin. 

2. These charges being so strong and the testimony 
so definite, we deemed it best to diversify our author- 
ities, that " in the mouth of two or three witnesses " 
every charge might be established. To use only 
Protestant witnesses might seem unfair, therefore we 
have also used Romish testimony. 

Since Eome claims the power to bind and loose in 
heaven and earth; and by her theory of excommuni- 
cation even consigns holy men and women, who deny 
her unscriptural and absurd dogmas, to perdition; and 
since her love of money is clear to all w x ho have 
watched her history, no one can be surprised that she 
will sell all kinds of indulgences — past, present, and 
future — for money, the love of which is " the root of 
all [kinds of] evil." 

If we were a member of the Roman communion, 
w r e would expect the writing of these pages to result 
in an excommunication filled with papal curses in 
the most approved style. And if the scene could be 



INDULGENCES, ABSOLUTION, EXCOMMUNICATION. 135 

transferred to Spain or Italy, and the time changed 
to the fifteenth century, we might be turned over to 
the tender mercies of the inquisitors to expiate our 
crime at the stake.' But, thanks to the Reformation, 
we are in a laud of religious freedom, of Bibles, and 
of Christian institutions; that, through the mercies of 
our God, have so far withstood the intrigues of Borne 
and the pope. 

What Christ said of the scribes and Pharisees 
seems adapted to the pope and his cohorts; "For 
they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, 
and lay them on men's shoulders; but they them- 
selves will not move them with one of their fingers." 
(Matt, xxiii. 4.) 



Celibacyand the Confessional: Fruits 

of. 



"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in 
sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening 
wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do 
men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 
Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; 
but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit." (Matt, 
xii. 15-17.) 

The Roman Church forbids its clergy to marry. It 
requires from them a vow of celibacy; by this, and 
w T ith its long seasons of abstinence from meat, it ful- 
fills the description of the great apostasy prophesied 
by St. Paul: "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, 
that in the latter times some shall depart from the 
faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines 
of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their 
conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to mar- 
ry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which 
God hath created to be received with thanksgiving 
of them which believe and know the truth." (1 Tim. 
iv. 1-3.) Forbidding to marry and commanding to 
abstain from meats are classed here as doctrines of 
devils, and a departure from the faith. But Eome 
claims to be exempt from this charge because she 
does not forbid marriage to the laity, but only to the 
clergy. Bishop Challoner, in his "Catholic Chris- 
tian Instructed," labors hard to sustain this position, 
(136) 



CELIBACY AND THE CONFESSIONAL. 137 

in support of which he is compelled to flatly dispute 
the Protestant translations without condescending to 
give a single proof of the corruption of the text of 
which he complains. 

The inspired apostle says, " Marriage is honorable 
in all " (Heb. xiii. 5), and he demands therewith chas- 
tity — that is, trueness to each other, between man and 
wdfe, in the marriage vow. But lest this might be 
evaded, in demanding ministerial celibacy, he speaks 
pointedly of the bishops and deacons having wives. 
In fact, the case of bishops and deacons and their 
wives was discussed just preceding the declaration of 
a coming apostasy in which marriage would be for- 
bidden, and which he styles "a doctrine of devils." 
"A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of 
one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to 
hospitality, apt to teach; not given to wine, no strik- 
er, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawl- 
er, not covetous; one that ruleth well his own house, 
having his children in subjection with all gravity; 
(for if a man know not how to rule his own house, 
how shall he take care of the Church of God?)" 
"Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, 
sober, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be the 
husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their 
own houses well." (1 Tim. iii. 2-5, 11, 12.) 

The bishops are to have wives and children, and to 
control their houses. The deacons also are to be 
married. The wives must be sober, grave, faithful, 
and not slanderers. Now, after these instructions on 
the marriage of the ministry, the apostle opens the 
next chapter Vith the announcement of a fearful de- 
parture from the faith, in which the very things he 



138 THE DANGEB SIGNAL. 

has been writing about and regulating should be for- 
bidden; but he emphatically denominates it a doc- 
trine of devils, emanating, from a seared conscience. 
In the creation God decided this matter: "And the 
Lord God said, It is not good that the man should 
be alone; I will make him a helpmeet for him." 
(Gen. ii. 18.) 

He never did exclude ministers from the honorable 
marriage relation. The Jewish priests were allowed— 
yea, commanded — to marry. The priesthood was de- 
pendent on the marriage of the priests, since the of- 
fice was hereditary. Moses was married; Aaron was 
married; so were the priests and the prophets, at 
least generally. 

Rome claims Peter as her first pope, and yet he 
was married, and Jesus healed his mother-in-law 
when "sick of a fever: " "And when Jesus was come 
into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and 
sick of a fever. And he touched her hand, and the 
fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto 
them." (Matt. viii. 14.) So here was a married 
apostle, keeping house and entertaining his Lord, and 
no word of condemnation ever uttered against him. 
Some Romanists say that Christ made Peter quit his 
wife, but there is no account of it. Paul says: "Let 
not the wife depart from her husband." (1 Cor. vii. 
20. ) Again, when treating of the advisability of the 
single state because of " the present distress " — which 
meant the sufferings to which they were then ex- 
posed, rendering the destruction of the home at any 
time probable — he adds: " Nevertheless, to avoid for- 
nication, let every man have his own "wife, and let 
every woman have her own husband." (1 Cor. vii. 



CELIBACY AND THE CONFESSIONAL. 139 

2.) And in this he does not make an exception of 
the ministers, as Borne does. 

We give a few incidents, showing that the clergy 
married even at Eome for several hundred years after 
the time of Christ. 

The following inscriptions from the tombs are to 
be found in Eev. W. H. Withrow's book, "The Cata- 
combs of Rome." I quote them from Rev. Dr. T. O. 
Summers, in "Popular Lectures," pp. 245, 246: 

" There is no trace of the ascetic spirit or celibate 
clergy of the Church of Rome in the inscriptions of 
the Catacombs. On the contrary, numerous epitaphs 
commemorate the honorable marriage of members of 
every ecclesiastical grade. Thus, in the highest rank, 
Gruter gives the following, which is thought to be 
that of Liberius, Bishop of Rome, who died A.D. 366, 
and who was sometimes known by the name of Leo: 

" ' My wife, Laurentia, made me this tomb; she was 
ever suited to my disposition, venerable and faithful. 
At length disappointed envy is crushed. The Bishop 
Leo survived his eightieth year.' 

" De Rossi gives the following, of a bishop's son, of 
date A.D. 404. The relationship is boldly acknowl- 
edged, and not yet disguised under the phrase nepos, 
or nephew: 

"'Victor, in peace, son of Bishop Victor, of the 
city of Urcrenses.' 

"The following, of date A.D. 445, was found at 
Narbonne : 

" 'Bishop Rusticus, son of Bishop Bonosus.' 

" ' Gaudentius, the presbyter, for himself and his 
wife, Severa, a chaste and most holy woman.' ' The 
place of Basil, the presbyter, and of Felicitas, his 



140 THE DANGEK SIGNAL. 

wife.' Observe, also, the tender recognition of fami- 
ly ties in the following: ' Once the happy daughter of 
the presbyter Gabinus, here lies Susanna, joined to 
her father in peace.' 

" ' Maria, the wife of a deacon, ever well-pleasing to 
me.'" 

Speaking of Leo VIII., A.D. 964, 965, De Corme- 
nin says: " During his reign the court of Rome au- 
thorized the Bishops of Bavaria to marry, a remark- 
able fact which has since been kept in the background 
by all the adorers of the holy see." — "History of the. 
Popes," L, 300. m 

The Church of Rome has been defiled and dis- 
graced before the world by the licentiousness of her 
enforced celibates. A few historical incidents will il- 
lustrate this. 

Hear the Italian lords to the emperor: 

" John the Twelfth hates Otho for the same reason 
the devil hates his Creator. You, my lord, seek to 
please God and desire the good ©f the Church and 
the State; the pope, on the other hand, blinded by a 
criminal passion, which he has conceived for the 
widow of his vassal, Rainier, has granted to her the 
government of several cities, and the direction of sev- 
eral convents, and to heighten the scandal, he has 
paid for. his infamous pleasures with the golden 
crosses and chalices of the Church of St. Peter. 

"One of his concubines, Stephenette, died before 
our very eyes, in the palace of the Lateran, in giving 
birth to a son, whom she declared was the pontiff's. 
The sacred residence of the popes has become, under 
the reign of John, a frightful brothel, the refuge of 
prostitutes. Neither Roman nor strange females dare 



CELIBACY AND THE CONFESSIONAL. 141 

any longer to visit the churches, for this monster 
causes wives, widows, and virgins to be carried off 
from the very steps- of the altar! Rich dresses or 
tattered rags, beauty or homeliness, all alike are used 
to gratify his execrable debaucheries! " 

Eathier, Bishop of Verona, testifies: "I have seen 
two metropolitans dispute at the end of a debauch at 
table.. ... Of these two, prelates, the one had 
committed adultery before his ordination; the other, 
after his consecration, had embraced three women. 

" But we should not be surprised at finding no one 
worthy of the prelateship; for if a man who is a 
perjurer, a drunkard, and addicted to prostitutes, is 
placed upon the apostolical throne, how r can w y e carry 
complaints before his tribunal? The popes dare not 
condemn those whose sentiments are in conformity 
with their own." 

Peter Damian addressed a letter to Leo the Ninth, 
1048-1054, A.D., for his advice in relation to the 
scandals of the clergy of his province: "We have 
prelates who openly abandon themselves to all kinds 
of debaucheries, get drunk at their feasts, mount on 
horseback, and keep their concubines in the episcopal 
palaces. . . . The priesthood is so despised that 
we are obliged to recruit ministers for the service of 
God from among simoniacs, adulterers, and murder- 
ers. . . . What would he [the apostle] say if he 
could return to earth and see the clergy of our days? 
The depravity is so great now that the priests sin 
with their own children." So the ministers of Borne, 
though enforced celibates, had children and commit- 
ted crimes with them. 

We are told by the historian that the adversaries 



142 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

of Alexander Farnese, wlio became pope under the 
title of Paul III., charged him with many crimes. 
Among others, "they accused him of making his 
daughter Constance his mistress; of having commit- 
ted another incest with his sister Wilhelmina, her 
whom he had prostituted to Pope Alexander the 
Sixth to save himself from the gibbet." 

Of Clement the Sixth we have this description: 
" Clement pushed the scandal of immorality so tar as 
to glory in his depravity. Courtesans, great dames, 
and beautiful pages entered his sleeping chamber in 
the presence of all, and were waited upon by the 
chamberlains, even on the very bed of the holy fa- 
ther." 

Another writer says: " Fond of ease and splendor, 
he entirely passed his short career in the gayety and 
voluptuousness which had now become the promi- 
nent features of the papal state." "He w r as both li- 
centious himself, and encouraged it in others." He 
was pope A.D. 1342-52. 

Julius III. was pope 1549-55 A.D. The histo- 
rian says: "His language and manners were in har- 
mony with the dissoluteness of his morals. Even in 
the conclave he practiced iniquity of the most bes- 
tial description; and instead of concealing it, permit- 
ted himself to be detected by his colleagues, Bayle 
has preserved for us a correspondence between his 
holiness (!) and a courtesan of Borne, whose favors 
Julius shared with the cardinal, Crescentius, and 
whose children were reared at a common expense. 
These letters contain recitals so disgusting that it is 
impossible to put them in decent language." 

"It was the destiny of Clement the Eleventh only 






CELIBACY AND THE CONFESSIONAL. 143 

to escape from one danger to fall into another. His 
apprehensions of war were scarcely quieted when two 
terrible events plunged Rome into consternation. In 
consequence of heavy rains, the Tiber rose above its 
banks, buried all the country under water, and de- 
stroyed the crops; then an earthquake, which lasted 
almost fifteen minutes, threw dow^n whole streets, and 
buried very many inhabitants beneath the ruins of 
their houses. Thus on the one side the inundation 
of the Tiber, and on the other the earthquake, con- 
tributed to render the position of the pope extremely 
critical. Within the holy city, as without, the exha- 
lations which escaped from the slime the river had 
left in retiring had corrupted the atmosphere and 
engendered pestilential fevers, which daily carried off 
thousands of victims.^ The misery had become so 
universal, so profound that two-thirds of the inhab- 
itants were reduced to the necessity of living on 
herbs, and those who wished to obtain a little bread 
or meat to sustain their miserable existence were 
compelled to prostitute their wives or daughters to 
the ecclesiastics, who aloae were rich enough to pur- 
chase this precious food. It was at once a curious 
and afflicting spectacle to behold the dwellings of the 
priests transformed into so many seraglios, in which 
were to be found the youngest and handsomest girls 
of Rome./ There was not the meanest clerk who, 
under the pretext of charity, had not collected sev- 
eral of these unfortunates. His Holiness w^as alarmed 
by the consequences which might result from such 
licentiousness, and issued a bull enjoining on priests, 
prelates, and cardinals to maintain a conduct more in 
conformity with the priestly character, under penalty 



144 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

of being disgraced; he ordered thern to restore at 
once to their families the women and young girls 
whom they had in their residences ; he, moreover, ex- 
pressly prohibited every ecclesiastic, under penalty 
of interdiction, from becoming intoxicated, gambling, 
or taking any part in any orgies whilst Eome was in 
distress." These quotations are from the "History 
of the Popes," I., 294, 306, 340; II., 59, 354. 

Reader, you see Rome, with her clergy under vows 
of celibacy and chastity, wallowing in licentiousness 
and corruption indescribable. She has attempted to 
improve on God's plan, mend the Scriptures, and be 
a law unto herself. Did not the inspired writer por- 
tray, with one stroke of his mighty pen, a picture of 
Rome's unmarried clergy when he spoke of the fear- 
ful apostasy; when, departing from the faith, they 
should teach doctrines of devils, and carry a seared 
conscience, forbidding to marry? Study the passage 
as it is given in the first part of this chapter, and de- 
cide for yourself. 

The Confessional. 

We believe the confessional, joined with priestly 
celibacy, is largely responsible for the prevalent li- 
centiousness and general corruptness of the so-called 
Church of Rome. We cannot honor it as a Church 
of Christ, for the facts developed in examining her 
history prove her utterly unworthy the name of 
Christian. Many humble Christians have been en- 
snared by her marvelous assumptions, and have lived 
and died in her communion, and were gloriously 
saved in heaven ; but it was in spite of her supersti- 
tions, and not because of them. Such holy lives, such 



CELIBACY AND THE CONFESSIONAL. 145 



shining lights, such worthy names we love and hon- 
or; but the superstitious, proud, persecuting, power- 
loving* Bible-burning, Christ-betraying Eoman hie- 
rarchy we neither love nor fear. She is drunk with 
the blood of the saints, filled with crime and igno- 
miny, the foe of light and freedom, the enemy of God 
and man, and justly styled in Scripture: "THE 
MOTHER OP HARLOTS AND ABOMINA- 
TIONS OF THE EARTH." (Rev. xvii. 5, 6.) 
These are grave charges, but facts support them. 
Let us add to those already adduced. 

" Bishop Challoner explains and defends the con- 
fessional. He says: 'By confession we mean a full 
and sincere accusation made to God's minister of all 
mortal sins, which, after a diligent examination of 
conscience, a person can call to his remembrance.' 

"A good confession is a work of the utmost impor- 
tance, and withal a difficult task by reason of the 
pride of our hearts, and that fear and shame which is 
natural to us, and which the devil, who is a mortal 
enemy to confession, seeks to improve with all his 
power. 

"Q. Is a person to examine himself as to the number 
of times that he has been guilty of this or that sin? 

"A. Yes; because he is obliged to confess as near 
as he can the number of his sins. But in sins of 
habit, which have been of long standing and very nu- 
merous, it will be enough to examine and confess the 
length of time that he has been subject to such a sin, 
and how many times he has fallen into it in a day, in 
a week, or month, one time with another." — "Cath. 
Christ Instructed;' 117, 118. 

With the confessional is the kindred dogma of 

, 10 



146 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

priestly absolution. By this the priest assumes the 
prerogative of God in forgiving sin. He virtually 
dethrones God Almighty and usurps the judgment 
throne. Listen to Rome's assumed authority: 
" Though the priest's absolution is the dispensation 
of a benefit which belongs to another, yet it is to be 
considered as the nature of a judicial act, in which 
sentence is pronounced by him as a judge." u Who- 
soever shall affirm that the priest's sacramental abso- 
lution is not a judicial act, let him be accursed." — 
"Council of Trent, Cans.," 5, 9. 

"Our sins are forgiven by the absolution of the 
priest. The voice of the priest is to be heard as that 
of Christ himself." "Unlike the authority given to 
the priest of the old law, the power with which the 
priests of the new law are invested is not simply to 
declare that sins are forgiven, but as the minister of 
God really to absolve from sin." — "Catechism of Coun. 
of Trent: 9 

"Suppose the Redeemer should visibly descend in 
person in his Church, and station himself in a confes- 
sional to administer the sacrament of penance, while 
a priest occupies another. The Son of God says, 'I 
absolve you," and the priest says, "I absolve you;" 
and the penitent finds himself absolved just as much 
by the one as by the other. Thus the priest, mighty 
like God, can instantly snatch the sinner from hell, 
render him worthy of paradise, and, if a slave of the 
devil, make him a child of Abraham, and God him- 
self is obliged to submit to the judgment of the priest. 
The sentence of the priest precedes; God subscribes 
to it." — Abbe Jean Gaume. These quotations are tak- 
en from Bishop Bowman in " Popular Lectures." 



CELIBACY AND THE CONFESSIONAL. 147 



These blasphemous usurpations of the divine pre- 
rogative in the forgiveness of sins, in connection with 
the unscriptural and demoralizing confessional, forci- 
bly remind one of the apostle's language in describ- 
ing the " man of sin to be revealed, the son of perdition; 
who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is 
called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God 
sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he 
is God." (2Thess. ii. 3,4.) 

We object to the confessional: 

1. Because it is not taught in the Bible. 

The passage quoted from James, " Confess your 
faults one to another, and pray one for another" 
( Jas. v. 16), is not at all to the point. 

(1) It does not say confess to the priest for forgive- 
ness, but confess one to another. The priest has as 
much right to confess to me as I to him. 

(2) It bids us confess to and pray for each oth- 
er. Do not look to each other for forgiveness, but 
to God. 

(3) It is simply a matter of brotherly conference 
and prayer to God for mutual benefit. 

This is as pointed as any scripture urged by Roman 
authorities in support of the confessional. God's 
holy word gives it no countenance. 

2. It teas never practiced by the apostles. No, not even 
by Christ. 

Where did Jesus himself ever take a penitent into 
a dark room to probe the soul with the most search- 
ing inquiries as to every secret sin? When did Paul 
do so? When did Peter practice this method of pry- 
ing into the hearts of men and women? They 
preached the glorious gospel of salvation by faith; 



148 THE DANGEB SIGNAL. 

and sent their broken-hearted penitents to God for 
confession and forgiveness — absolution, as Rome 
calls it. The confessional is one of the inventions of 
men which Rome palms off on the world for gospel 
truth. 

3. It puts the priest in God's place, and is thus essen- 
tially idolatrous. 

It shuts out the light of the Bible, and fences God 
out of the soul by priestly barriers. Many who be- 
lieve the doctrine of the confessional, as we have 
shown it from Catholic authorities, do not properly 
strive to resist sin, nor seek forgiveness from God 
aright. They expect absolution from the priest. A 
converted Catholic thus testifies: "'Through this 
process I often went, and never without feeling that 
my sins were forgiven. Sins that burdened me be- 
fore were now disregarded.. The load of guilt was 
gone. And I often felt, when prompted to sin, that I 
could commit it with impunity, as I could soon con- 
fess it and secure its pardon.' And this, sir, is the 
fearful and fatal effect of your doctrine of confession 
and absolution upon millions of minds." — "Kirwari's 
Letters;' p. 20. 

"A boy whom I was reproving for a certain sin," 
writes a gentleman who was trained in the Catholic 
Church, " remarked: ■ O it does not matter how often 
I do this! I'll confess it to the priest and he'll make 
it all right; for he can forgive many sins as well as a 
few.' " — "Popular Lectures" 353. 

Bishop Marvin, in his " Errors of the Papacy," hits 
the confessional the following solid blows: "The con- 
fessional is without a parallel in apostolic preroga- 
tive. What a striking contrast there is between the 



CELIBACY AND THE CONFESSIONAL. 149 

directions which the apostles give to believers, and 
those which the priests give! Confession of sin to a 
minister is never enumerated among the duties of the 
Christian life by the former, while there is scarcely 
any thing so much insisted on by the latter. You will 
scarcely find the most compendious manual of Chris- 
tian duty put forth by a Romanist but the absolute 
necessity of confessing all sin to the priest is strenu- 
ously insisted on. All descriptions of sin, such as 
have ripened into the overt act, and such as lie con- 
cealed in the unspoken thought; all, all are to be 
carefully told to the priest. Proud men and modest 
women must tell every impure thought to the priest. 
I speak by the book, and challenge contradiction. 
And if any, even ladies, hesitate through timidity and 
conscious female delicacy, they are to be led on by 
questions until every hidden thing is made known 
to the 'father confessor.' Such authority to inspect 
the secret soul the apostles did not claim. They 
never required shrinking, modest women to detail to 
them their most secret thoughts. Such godlike pre- 
rogatives they never usurped." 

4. The confessional is the connecting link between the 
celibacy of the priests and the inconceivable degradation 
of Roman Catholic peoples. 

The priest is unmarried. In the confessional he 
takes men, women, and children, married women, sin- 
gle women, and little girls, and alone questions them 
minutely, closely, upon the seventh commandment. 
He is not satisfied to simply leave these things to the 
penitent's conscience for confession, although he has 
taught them that an imperfect confession endangers 
their souls forever. He must press his questions to 



150 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

the very thoughts that may have polluted the soul. 
If impure thoughts have never entered the secret 
chambers of the soul, this pretended agent of the 
skies, but real emissary of Satan, is sure to introduce 
them. We will give some thoughts on this subject 
taken from that arsenal of Protestant weapons against 
Home's perversions and crimes, " Fifty years in the 
Church of Rome," by Father Chiniquy.* Describing 
his first visit to the confessional, when but a little boy, 
the author says: 

" When I had confessed all the sins I could remem- 
ber, the priest began to ask me the strangest ques- 
tions on matters about which my pen must be silent. 
I replied: 'Father, I do not understand what you ask 
me.' 

" 'I question you on the sixth commandment [sev- 
enth in the Bible]. Confess all. You will go to hell 
if through your fault you omit any thing.' 

"Thereupon he dragged my thoughts to regions 
which, thank God, had hitherto been unknown to me. 
. . . I left the confessional irritated and con- 
fused. . . . The shameful questions which had 
been asked me, the new world of iniquity into which 
I had been introduced, the impure phantoms by 
which my childish heart had been defiled, confused 
and troubled my mind so strangely that I began to 
weep bitterly. . . . Perhaps I wept because of a 
remnant of that feeling of original dignity whose 
traces had still been left in me. I felt so downcast 
by the disappointment of being removed farther from 

* Published by Adam Craig, Chicago, 111. Price $2,25. May 
be had of the publisher of this book. 



CELIBACY AND THE CONFESSIONAL. 151 

the Saviour by that confessional which had promised 
to bring me nearer to him." 

The author tells us that that priest was not "more 
to blame than others." That he simply did what his 
priestly duties required. " He was only obeying the 
pope and his theologians." (Pages 26-29.) 

Mr. Chiniquy reports a speech delivered by Dr. 
Tache, " whose high capacity afterward brought him 
to the head of the Canadian government/' to his 
neighbors, as follows: 

" The reign of thepriest is the reign of ignorance, 
of corruption, and of the most barefaced immorality, 
under the mask of the most refined hypocrisy. The 
reign of the priest is the death of our schools; it is 
the degradation of oar wives, the prostitution of our 
daughters; it is the reign of tyranny, the loss of 
liberty. 

" By the confessional the priests poison the springs 
of life in our children. They initiate them into such 
mysteries of iniquity as would terrify old galley- 
slaves. By their questions they reveal to them se- 
crets of a corruption such as carries its germs of 
death into the very marrow of their bones, and that 
from the earliest years of their infancy. Before I 
was fifteen years old I had learned more real black- 
guardism from the mouth of my confessor [priest] 
than I have learned ever since in my studies and in 
my life as a physician for twenty years." 

"While speaking to you of the deleterious effect 
of the confessional upon our children, shall I forget 
its effects upon our wives and upon ourselves ? Need 
I tell you that for most women the confessional is a 
rendezvous of coquetry and of love? Do you not 



152 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

feel, as I do myself, that by means of the confession- 
al the priest is more the master of the hearts of 
our wives than ourselves? Is not the priest the pri- 
vate and public confidant of our wives? Do not our 
wives go invariably to the feet of the priest, opening 
to him what is most sacred and intimate in the se- 
crets of our lives, as husbands and as fathers? The 
husband belongs no more to his wife as her guide 
through the dark and difficult path of life: it is the 
priest! We are no more their friends and natural 
advisers. Their anxieties and their cares they do 
not confide to us. They do not expect from us the 
remedies for the miseries of this life. Toward the 
priest they turn their thoughts and desires. He has 
their entire and exclusive confidence. In a word, it 
is the priest who is the real husband of our wives. 
It is he who has the possession of their respect and 
of their hearts to a degree to which none of us need 
ever aspire. 

" Were the priest an angel, w^ere he not made of 
flesh and bones, just as we are, were not his organiza- 
tion absolutely the same as our own, then might we 
be indifferent to what might take place between him 
and our wives, whom he has at his feet, in his hands 
— even more, in his heart. But what does my expe- 
rience tell me, not only as a physician, but also as a 
citizen of St. Thomas? What does yours tell you? 
Our experience tells us that the priest, instead of be- 
ing stronger, is weaker than we generally are with 
respect to women." 

"As a matter of fact, of the last four priests who 
came to St. Thomas, have not three seduced many of 
the wives and daughters of our most respected fam- 



CELIBACY AND THE CONFESSIONAL. 153 

ilies ? And what security have we that the priest who 
is now with us does not walk in the same path? Is 
not the whole parish filled with indignation at the 
long nightly visits made by him to two girls whose 
dissolute morals are a secret to nobody? And when 
the priest does not respect himself, would we not be 
silly in continuing to give him that respect of which 
he himself knows he is unworthy?" 

After these cutting remarks by Dr. Tache, we are 
introduced to a Mr. Dubord, who addressed the same 
audience: 

"I know by my own experience that of all actions 
confession is the most degrading in a person's life. 
I can imagine nothing so well calculated to destroy 
forever one's self-respect as the modern invention 
[yes, modern invention, not scriptural. — P.] of the con- 
fessional. Now, what is a person without self-respect 
— especially a woman? Without this all is lost for- 
ever. 

"In the confessional every thing is corruption of 
the lowest grade. 

" In the confessional a girl's thoughts are polluted, 
her heart is polluted — yes, and forever polluted! Do 
I need to tell you this? You know it as well as I do. 
Though you are now too intelligent to degrade your- 
selves at the feet of a priest, though it is long since 
you have been guilty of that meanness, not one of 
you have forgotten the lessons of corruption received 
when young at the confessional. Those lessons are 
engraved on your memory, your thoughts, your 
hearts, and your souls, like the scar of a red-hot iron 
upon the brow of a slave, to remain a perpetual wit- 
ness of his shame and servitude. The confessional is 



154 THE DANGEK SIGNAL. 

a place where one gets accustomed to hear and re- 
peat, without a scruple, things which would cause 
even a prostitute to blush ! 

"Why are Roman Catholic nations inferior to na- 
tions belonging to Protestantism ? Only in the con- 
fessional can the solution of that problem be found. 
And why are Roman Catholic nations degraded in 
proportion to their submission to the priest? It is 
because the oftener the individuals composing those 
nations go to confession the more rapidly they sink 
in the scale of intelligence and morality." (Pages 
84-38!) 

These witnesses are French-Canadian Catholics. 
They were reared in her communion, and hence, 
though alienated from her, are not free to seek the 
light and freedom of Bible Christianity. Thus Ro- 
manism enslaA r es, degrades, and corrupts. She drives 
the ignorant into the meshes of a corrupt supersti- 
tion, and the intelligent into the dark and cheerless 
night of infidelity. Bat to show the truth of the 
charges made by the witnesses just heard we submit 
the following statistics. Statistics are sometimes dry, 
but so are cannon-balls, which, however, do effective 
service. The tables are compiled from Seymour's 
"Evenings with Romanists." The table shows the 
number of illegitimate births in the Protestant and 
Catholic cities named. The statistics are from gov- 
ernment returns, and therefore strictly reliable: 

Protestant London, 1851. 

Whole number of births 78,300 

The legitimate. were 75,007 

The illegitimate 3,203 

or 4 per cent. 



CELIBACY AND THE CONFESSIONAL. 155 

Catholic Paris, 1851. 

Whole number of births 32,325 

The legitimate were 21,689 

The illegitimate 10,630 

or 33 per cent. 

Catholic Brussels, 1850. 

Whele number of births 5,181 

The legitimate were 3,448 

The illegitimate 1,833 

or 35 per cent. 

Catholic Munich, 1851. 

Whole number of births 3,469 

The legitimate were 1,762 

The illegitimate - 1,702 

or 48 per cent. 

Catholic Vienna, 1849. 

Whole number of births. . '. 19,241 

The legitimate were 8,881 

The illegitimate 10,360 

or an average, from 1848 till 1851, of 51 per cent. 
" These proportions will appear more striking" viewed by the 
help of the following concise summary. The proportion of ille- 
gitimate births is : 

In Eoman Catholic Paris 33 per cent. 

In Roman Catholic Brussels 35 per cent. 

In Roman Catholic Munich 48 per cent. , 

In Roman Catholic Vienna 51 per cent. 

In Protestant London four ! per cent. 

We quote from the " Cis- Atlantic Battle between 
Sam and the Pope." 

These figures corroborate the testimony of De Cor- 
menin, Tache, Dubord, and Chiniquy as to the un- 
speakable rottenness of Eoman Catholicism, traceable 
mainly to the confessional in the hands of an unmar- 
ried clergy. They enable us to see why the Bible 
should brand Romanism as the mother of harlots and 



156 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

abominations of the earth, and her dogma of priestly 
celibacy as a " doctrine of devils." 

" The following picture of Roman clerical corrup- 
tion is drawn by the hand of a French Catholic priest 
in 1836, edited by Samuel F. B. Morse, A.M., of New 
York, and published by John S. Taylor, New York, 
in 1837. The work is entitled, 'Confession of a French 
Catholic Priest.' Mr. Morse, whose veracity cannot be 
questioned, was intimately acquainted w T ith the priest, 
and edited his work: " 

"The story of the corruption of the clergy begins 
only when they are out of the seminary. Those young 
men are sent into a parish in the quality of curates, 
or vicars. In the beginning they fulfil] their duties 
with great care, and for some time remain faithful to 
their vows. Many told this to me after their fall; 
and I hgave seen it myself, except in a few exceptions. 
But by and by they open astonished eyes. Restored 
to freedom, after ten or twelve years of thralklom in a 
college or seminary, they become quite different men; 
gradually they forget their vow. 'O,' said a young 
priest to me, with tears in his eyes, after having four 
or five years discharged the duties of his station, ' God 
only knows what I have suffered during this time; 
and if I have fallen, it was not without fighting; had 
I been allowed to choose a wife, as it is the law of 
God, who destined man to marriage, whatever our 
rules teach to the contrary, I should have remained 
virtuous; I should have been the happiest man in the 
world ; I should be a good, a holy priest, while now I 
am, O I am, ashamed of myself! ' 

"This is really the sad history of all their falls; for, 
let us be just, what can become of a young priest of 



CELIBACY AND THE CONFESSIONAL. 157 

twenty-five years of age, confined in a lonely wilder- 
ness of a country parish, in a village where he has 
only the society of his sacristan and of his servant; 
because all his parishioners being but coarse peas- 
ants, especially in the south and in the west [of Eu- 
rope], where scarcely any know how to read, are un- 
able to afford any comfort to his solitude ? His duty 
occupies him but little, save on the Sunday; and 
during the whole week, after his short mass and 
some confession of women, he is reduced to ask him- 
self: ' What shall I do? ' Study has few if any charms 
for him, because he is forbidden to read or study pre- 
cisely those matters which entertain the intellect. He 
is allowed only to peruse theology, always Dens, Go- 
mex, Roduguex, "the Life of Saints," by Godescar. 
If he should obtain some other books, the bishop, in 
his episcopal visit, would chide him severely, and call 
him a worldly priest. Our great poet, Racine, so pure, 
so chaste, is scarcely tolerated, and many bishops do 
not allow him in the libraries of their priests. The 
young man, before his profession, had imagined and 
anticipated a pleasant existence in the ecclesiastic 
state, and he finds but privations, ennui, disgust; his 
passions are also raised; the demon of bad thoughts 
takes possession of him. Moreover, his ministry puts 
him in so many circumstances with ignorant young 
country-women, into whose most sacred thoughts he 
is obliged to enter, that his virtue receives many 
shocks. And can it be otherwise, when a man has 
such intimate and continual relations as are required 
of the Catholic priests, with women? No; it would 
be unreasonable to expect from human nature more 
than it is able to do, to pnt it on too difficult a trial 



158 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

Such is, however, the situation of every Catholic 
priest. 

"I do not say all this to veil or excuse the crimes, 
the natural result of this institution; but I think I 
am bound to give the matter of fact as it is. Some- 
times the resistance is firm, the struggle long; but at 
length this martyr of fanaticism, this victim of his 
system and of his superiors, abandons his vow 
through despair, shuts his eyes, and throws himself 
into the slough of passion. This is the end of al- 
most all priests. In the beginning their conscience 
reproaches them bitterly; they try again to be faith- 
ful; they flutter, fail, reform again, go on, fall again, 
and at length, to finish this horrible struggle, remain 
in vice. Let us add to this sad catastrophe the 
temptations against their faith and doctrines, which 
end with many in complete atheism, into which they 
fall by the excess of their degradation, temptations 
to atheism in those who reason from the impossibil- 
ity of reconciling their faith with reason. ... . 

c i Through their dark ministry, they have an im- 
mense power upon the minds of women, for they at- 
tack only those whose disposition they have long 
studied in confession. The reader can have some 
idea of this power from this single fact, of which I 
know the personage because it became public. A 
priest, in a parish not far from mine, laid his snares 
for a young married woman, who had the reputation 
of piety because she attended mass every morning. 
He, through his diabolical arguments, won her and 
triumphed over all her scruples. She went to him 
almost every morning in the vestry before the bell 
rang to call the people to the mass. He then con- 



CELIBACY AND THE CONFESSIONAL. 159 

fessecl and absolved her, and she received the Lord's 
Supper at his mass. The good people said, admiring 
her daily communion: 'How pious is this young 
wife! She partakes of the sacrament every day; she 
is doubtless a saint.' 

" There are no means which their cunning does not 
invent to meet with their victims. If the husband is 
jealous and suspicious, his wife upon the advice of 
the curate wall feign to be sick; and as it is the duty 
of a priest to visit often [every day if possible] his 
sick parishioners, he will remain alone with her to 
speak about spiritual matters in appearance, or to 
confess her." 

"I said in the beginning of this chapter that no 
crime could deter a priest from its commission if it 
is necessary to efface the traces of others. A Paris 
journal gave, some weeks ago, a striking proof of 
this truth. A priest of the diocese of. Dijon [de- 
partment of the Cote-d'Or,] Dela Colionge by name, 
after a long life of debauchery with a young seam- 
stress whom he had seduced, smothered her one 
night, cut her body into pieces, and hid them in 
holes in his house. This is not a history of old 
times, but of the year 1836. It did not occur among 
cannibals or anthropophagi; but in France, in the 
beautiful province of Burgogne. And the monster 
who perpetrated this murder, in consideration of the 
interference of the bishop and of the high clergy, 
who took great interest in him, has escaped the pain 
of death, even that of exposure and pillory, that his 
cassock, and the body to which he belonged, be not 
dishonored. He has been condemned only to the 
galleys. 



160 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

" Some twenty years ago the whole of France re- 
sounded w T ith the before unheard of crime of Contre- 
sotto, a monster priest with a human visage, and of 
that of Mingrot, who, being unable to seduce a wom- 
an, first killed her, and violating her dead body, cut 
it to pieces and dispersed the fragments. — "Elliott on 
Bom,;' Vol IL, 413-418. 

This is Romanism with the confessional and the 
celibate priesthood. 

Her crimes will never be fully known until the 
long line of her prostitutes, bastards, wrecked sons, 
ruined daughters, corrupted wives, and offended hus- 
bands, polluted priests, blighted congregations, sad- 
dened fathers, raving mothers, and murdered vic- 
tims, meet her at the bar of God. Then shall be ful- 
filled the apocalyptic vision: "And after these things 
I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, say- 
ing, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, ancl honor, and 
power, unto the Lord our God: for true and right- 
eous are his judgments; for he hath judged the great 
whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornica- 
tion, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at 
her hand. And again they said, Alleluia. And her 
smoke rose up forever and ever." (Rev. xix. 1-3.) 



Bloodshed. 



"A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither 
can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree 
that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and 
cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall 
know them." (Matt. vii. 18-20.) 

On this subject the history of the Roman Catholic 
Church — the hierarchy is misnamed Church — will 
never be fully written. The number of her slain will 
never be known till the records of eternity reveal her 
public and secret crimes. When the Lord shall make 
up his jewels, millions will be among them who 
through the intrigues and heartless butcheries of 
the papal system sealed their testimonies with their 
blood. Her martyred millions will be among those 
of whom it shall be said: "These are they which 
came out of great tribulation, and have washed their 
robes, and made them white in the blood of the 
Lamb." (Rev. vii. 14.) 

There we may see a Huss, a Wy cliff e, a Ridley, a 
Latimer, a Cranmer, who have died at the stake or 
on the rack for humbly preaching the simple truths 
of gospel grace unfettered by Rome's ghostly para- 
phernalia. She dreads nothing so much as to have the 
pure gospel preached to the people and her own frauds 
and pagan inventions laid open to the public gaze. 

But as we open a few pages of history wherein 
may be seen the stake, the knife, the rack, in the 
11 (161) 



162 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

hands of Eome's trusty agents, the impartial reader 
may rightfully ask: "But have not Protestants shed 
the blood of their antagonists? Why hold up Eome's 
gory records of the past to her detriment to-day?" 

These questions are rational and pertinent. We 
answer: 

1. Rome claims infallibility and universal suprem- 
acy, thus making it appear that she cannot do 
wrong, and that her popes possess the right to exer- 
cise power over all people. Protestants make no such 
pretensions. 

2. Eome claims a succession of her inf allibles from 
the apostles to the present time; thus indorsing all 
her past history. This claim, joined to that of infal- 
libility, makes Eome unchangeable; hence the Eom- 
isli Church of yesterday is thaEomish Church of to- 
day — the same forever. Not so with Protestantism. 
She indorses none of the sins of her fathers, but 
would ever move up to purer and holier heights. 

3. In line with the principles just laid down the 
author of the " Grounds of Catholic Doctrine" says: 
"The Church of Christ [meaning the Eoman] could 
never go astray;" "the Church of Christ could never 
fall into errors;" "every one knows that the Protest- 
ant religion pretends to be a reformation of the 
Church of Christ [no, friend; only the Church of 
Eome would we reform], and it is evident there could 
be no room for reformation of the Church of Christ, 
except the Church was gone astray." Again he says: 
"The Church of Christ could never cease to be holy 
in her doctrine: could never fall into idolatry, super- 
stition, or any heretical errors whatever." — "Grounds 
of Catholic Doctrine;' 86, 87, 14. 



BLOODSHED. 1G3 



Again lie says, speaking of the E-mail Catholic 
Church: "The true Church of Christ . . . was 
to continue pure and holy in all ages, . . . and 
consequently could never stand in need of a Protest- 
ant reformation; therefore that which was of old the 
true Church of Christ must still be so; and it is in 
vain to seek for the true Church amongst any of the 
sects or pretenders to reformation; because they all 
build upon a wrong foundation — that is, upon the 
supposition that the Church of Christ was for many 
ages gone astray." — Ibid., p. 20. 

Will the reader please bear these utterances in 
mind, and just for a few minutes recount the doc- 
trines of Rome as set forth in preceding pages. In- 
fallibility, transubstantiation, supremacy, purgatory, 
traditions, indulgences, image-worship, etc.; now go 
for awhile through her fields of blood and carnage, 
and amid the shrieks of the suffering and the groans 
of the dying say whether you think the Church of 
Roroe has never needed a reformation. As long as 
she refuses reformation, excuses the crimes of her 
history, and continues to plead her innocence, holi- 
ness, and infallibility, just so long will she continue 
to merit the condemnation of outraged humanity and 
the uncompromising opposition of every lover of God 
and freedom. 

But the facts. 

Pope Pelagius I., A.D., 557-559, urged the patri- 
cian Narses to a persecution of all heretics, that they 
might be led to abjure their heresies and enter the 
Church. He authorized the confiscation of property, 
severe imprisonment, and tortures. In recording it 
the historian affirms: "We are about to discover that 



164 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

tlie clergy have always found great pleasure in swim- 
ming in blood and contemplating carnage; and that 
they have even surpassed kings in their cruelty when 
they have possessed the sovereign power. It is a 
truth, unfortunately established by history, that re- 
ligious intolerance, during more than two thousand 
years, has depopulated the most flourishing states, 
lighted among all nations the torches of fanaticism, 
excited in all countries butcheries, murders, and in- 
cendiarism; and has, above all, led to violations and 
massacres. What is the most deplorable is that the 
ministers of all these cruelties have veiled them from 
the eyes of the people, under the specious pretext of 
maintaining the orthodoxy of the Church, and have 
caused a religion sublime in its morality to be exe- 
crated. The misfortunes under which humanity has 
groaned have had no other origin than the ambition 
of priests or the pride of sovereigns. Nevertheless, 
the partisans of theocracy afnrni that the priests are 
not persecutors when they force men to enter upon 
the true path."— "Hist onj of the Popes" 118. 

Pope Innocent III., 1198-1216, was engaged in con- 
stant wars with the surrounding nations, but com- 
mon war could not satisfy his blood-thirsty soul: "In 
the midst of all these wars with princes and kings, 
Innocent did not lose sight of heresies. He had al- 
ready sent the monks Eainier and Guy to the south 
of France, with power to constrain the Yaudois to 
abjure, and to employ for this purpose the sword, 
water, and fire, as these good monks should judge it 
necessary to use one or the other, or all three to- 
gether for the greater glory of God. Thus," says 
Perrin, "all Christendom was agitated by the sight 



BLOODSHED. 165 



of unfortunate men hung to the gallows, tortured on 
wooden horses, or burned on funeral piles, because 
they placed their trust in God alone and refused to 
believe in the vain ceremonies invented by men." 

The pope caused a crusade to be preached against 
the Vaudois. Plenary indulgences were granted to 
those who should arm against the heretics; and the 
palm of martyrdom was promised to the fanatics who 
should perish in this war. 

The city of Beziers was besieged and overthrown. 
" Then commenced a butchery of which history af- 
fords no second example. The frightful Dominick, 
w T ith the cross in one hand and the bull of the 
pope in the other, animated the combatants and 
incited them to carnage, to rape, to incendiarism! 
He fulfilled so w T ell the orders of the pope that sixty 
thousand dead bodies of both sexes, men, women, 
and children, w T ere swallowed up beneath the smok- 
ing ruins of their city, reduced to ashes! . . . 
Those among the unfortunates whom the soldiers 
'spared on account of their youth or their beauty 
were reserved for new scenes of horror. Young girls 
and young boys were led, entirely naked, before the 
tomb of Pierre de Castelnau; were beaten by the 
monks with thongs loaded w^ith lead, and when their 
bodies were entirely covered with blood w^ere aban- 
doned to the brutality of the soldiers, then murdered 
and their dead bodies horribly polluted."— "History 
of the Popes;' 461, 462. 

It was Innocent III. who originated the Inquisition. 
It was at first a roving band of spies who sought out 
and informed against all who were denominated her- 
etics by Eome. It succeeded so well that " his Holi- 



166 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

ness," as the Catholics call the pope, who has in many 
cases, however, proved an incarnate demon, organ- 
ized it into a regular court to prosecute the work of 
exterminating all who should learn enough of God 
and his word to love and serve him without the idola- 
trous appendages of the Roman Church. The his- 
tory of this infamous institution surpasses in records 
of fiendish cruelty the foulest pages that mar the his- 
tory of savage blood-thirstiness. Its agents exhaust- 
ed their inventive genius in devising the most cruel 
methods of torture. In the holy name of the God of 
love and our merciful religion, the most implacable 
spirit of hatred and cruelty was manifested, and 
atrocious crimes and blood-curdling deeds were per- 
petrated. We will give our readers a Description of 
the Inquisition as given in " Fox's Book of Martyrs." 

" The officers are three inquisitors, or judges, a fis- 
cal proctor, two secretaries, a magistrate, a messen- 
ger, a receiver, a jailer, an agent of confiscated pos- 
sessions; several assessors, counselors, executioners, 
physicians, surgeons, door-keepers, familiars, and 
visitors who are sworn to secrecy. 

" The principal accusation against those who are 
subject to this tribunal is heresy, which comprises 
all that is spoken or written against any of the arti- 
cles of the creed, or the traditions of the Roman 
Church. It takes cognizance of those who are ac- 
cused of being magicians, of such as read the Bible 
in the common language, the Talmud, or the Koran. 
A defense before the Inquisition is of little use, for a 
suspicion only is deemed sufficient cause of condem- 
nation, and the greater the prisoner's wealth the 
greater his danger. Their principal cruelty is owing 



BLOODSHED. 167 



to their love of money; they destroy life to possess 
the property; and, under pretense of zeal, plunder 
each obnoxious individual. 

" The prisoner is not allowed to face the accuser or 
the witness; but threat and torture are alike used to 
make him confess. If he denies the jurisdiction, 
vengeance is certain and terrible. No rank, position, 
or honor are safe. When the person on trial is con- 
demned he is severely whipped, violently tortured, 
sent to the galleys, or sentenced to death. In any 
case his property was confiscated. This shows that 
it was a great scheme of public robbery. 

"After the judgment, a procession was formed 
which marched to the place of the execution. This 
was called an auto de fe, which means an act of 
faith. We give the following Account of an Auto 
de Fe, performed at Madrid, Spain, in 1682. 

" The officers of the Inquisition, preceded by trump- 
ets, kettle-drums, and their banner, marched in cav- 
alcade, on the 30th of May, to the palace of the great 
square, where they made proclamation that the sen- 
tence of the prisoners would be put in execution. 
Of these prisoners, twenty men and women, with one 
renegade Mohammedan, were to be burned. Others 
were to be imprisoned. The inquisitor's chair was 
placed far above that of the king. 

"A young Jewess begged the queen, who sat near 
her, to interpose in her behalf. Her majesty seemed 
to greatly pity her, but dared not speak a word in 
favor of one pronounced a heretic. 

"Now mass — the celebration of the Lord's Supper 
— began, in the midst of which the priest came from 
the altar and seated himself near the scaffold. 



168 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

"The chief inquisitor then descended from the 
amphitheater, dressed in his cope, and having a miter 
on his head. He bowed to the altar, then advanced 
to the king's balcony, attended by some of his officers, 
carrying a cross and the Gospels, also a book contain- 
ing the oath by which the kings of Spain obligated 
themselves to protect the Catholic faith, to extirpate 
heretics, and to support with all their power the 
prosecutions and decrees of the Inquisition; a like 
oath was administered to the counselors and the 
whole assembly. 

" The mass was begun about noon, and did not end 
till nine in the evening, being protracted by the proc- 
lamation, separately, of the sentences of the con- 
demned. 

"After this the twenty-one -men and women were 
burned. They endured the sufferings with astonish- 
ing fortitude. The king's situation, being near the 
sufferers, rendered their dying groans very audible 
to him. But his coronation oath forbade his absence 
from the scene, as it was considered a religious per- 
formance, and he was obliged to give sanction by his 
presence." 

These descriptions are sufficient, we are told, to en- 
able one to understand the general working of the 
Inquisition. 

The workings of the torture inflicted by the in- 
quisitors may be seen in the following account by 
one who endured it to the limit— three times. There 
were many other methods of torture, however. 

At the first time of torturing six executioners 
stripped him to his drawers, and laid him upon his 
back on a kind of stand, elevated a few T feet from the 



BLOODSHED. 169 



floor. They put an iron collar around his neck and 
a ring to each foot, which fastened him to the stand. 
His limbs being thus stretched out, they wound two 
ropes around each thigh; which ropes being passed 
under the scaffold, through holes made for that pur- 
pose, were all drawn tight at the same instant of 
time, by four of the men, at a given signal. It is 
easy to conceive that the pains which immediately 
ensued were intolerable; the ropes, which were of 
small size, cut through the flesh to the bone, making 
the blood to gush" out at eight different places. As 
the prisoner would not make the confession demand- 
ed, the ropes were drawn in this manner four times 
successively. 

The second mode of torture was as follows: They 
forced his arms backward so that the palms of his 
hands were turned outward behind him; when by 
means of a rope that fastened them together at the 
wrists, and which was turned by an engine, they 
drew them by degrees nearer each other, in such a 
manner that the backs of the hands touched and stood 
exactly parallel to each other. In consequence of 
this violent contortion, both his shoulders became 
dislocated, and a considerable quantity of blood is- 
sued from his mouth. This torture was thrice re- 
peated; after which he was again taken to the -dun- 
geon, and the surgeon set the dislocated bones. 

Two months after the second torture, the prisoner, 
being a little recovered, was again ordered to the 
torture- room, and there for the last time made to 
undergo another kind of punishment, which was in- 
flicted twice without any intermission. The execu- 
tioners fastened a thick iron chain round his body, 



170 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

which, crossing at the breast, terminated at the 
wrists. They placed him with his back against a thick 
board, at each extremity of which there was a pulley, 
through which there ran a rope that caught the end 
of the chain at his wrists. The turning of a roller 
behind pressed and bruised his stomach in propor- 
tion as the chain was drawn tighter. They tortured 
him thus, till his wrists, as well as shoulders, were 
dislocated. They were, however, soon set by the 
surgeons; then the barbarous wretches, not yet sat- 
isfied with his awful sufferings, repeated it immedi- 
ately. After this he was again remanded to the dun- 
geon, the surgeons adjusted his dislocated limbs, and 
as they had been unable to get a confession from him 
by which he might be burned he was set free at their 
next jail delivery. For full account see "Fox's 
Book of Martyrs," from which this is abridged. 
, This is only one of many forms of torture in use 
among the heartless brutes who manipulated the In- 
quisition for the purpose of plunder and the glory of 
the "Holy Mother Church " who "has never needed a 
reformation," as we are informed. 

But we must not stop here. Holy Rome must be 
followed a little farther, that we may see her way of 
making converts in the zenith of her power, while 
empires trembled beneath her tread and kings 
crouched at her feet. 

From a work on the Inquisition revised by the 
learned and accurate Bev. T. O. Summers, D.D., 
LL.D.,* we make a few extracts: 

"Ministers of the tribunal, among whom it was 
necessary that the treasurer should be one (for the 

* Publishing House M. E. Church, South, Nashville, Tenn. 



BLOODSHED. 171 



purpose of taking charge of the confiscation), pro- 
ceeded usually at dead of night to the house of the 
alleged culprit. 'The thunderbolt launched from 
the black and angry cloud/ says a writer, ' strikes not 
with such alarm as the sound of deliver yourself 
up A prisoner to the inquisition! ' Astonished and 
trembling, the unwary citizen hears the dismal voice; 
a thousand different affections at once seize upon his 
panic-stricken frame, and he remains perplexed and 
motionless. His life in danger — his deserted wife 
and orphan children — eternal infamy the only patri- 
mony that now awaits his bereft family; are all ideas 
which rush upon his mind; he is at once agitated by 
an agony of dilemma and despair. The burning tear 
scarcely glistens on his livid cheek, the accents of 
woe die on his lips; and amidst the alarm and deso- 
lation of his family, and the confusion and pity of 
his neighbors he is borne away to dungeons whose 
damp and bare walls can alone witness the anguish 
of his mind.' . . . — " Puigblanch" Chap. IV. 

" Here the miserable captive was immured, without 
society, without compassion, without books, without 
a copy of his accusation, and was often forbidden to 
hum a tune lest it might prove a means of corre- 
spondence with his fellow-prisoners." 

Ponce de la Fuente, a learned Spaniard, impris- 
oned by the Inquisition during the reign of the Em- 
peror Charles V., under suspicion of being a Lu- 
theran, cried out in the bitterness of his soul! " ' O my 
God! were there no Scythians, or cannibals, or pa- 
gans, still more savage, that thou hast permitted me 
to fall into the hands of these baptized fiends? ' His 
loathsome dungeon, which was never permitted to 



172 THE DANGEK SIGNAL. 

be cleaned in the least degree, brought on dysentery, 
of which he died." Some of the modes of torture 
described in this book, after every other means had 
been resorted to to extort confession of heresy are 
given as follows: 

"The first process w^as that of the pulley. By this 
the prisoner was hoisted to the roof of the hall, his 
hands bound behind him and attached to the rope 
which elevated him; whilst a heavy weight, some- 
times of a hundred pounds, was fastened to his feet. 
The simple elevation of a human body, six or seven 
feet from the ground, was dislocating; but this tort- 
ure could be severely increased. Sometimes, whilst 
in this position, stripes were applied to his back, and 
sometimes the rope being suddenly relaxed, the 
weight descended in an instant toward the ground, 
which, however, the body was not allowed to touch, 
and by this violent jerk the limbs were disjointed 
with the most excruciating agony. In the meantime 
the secretary was precise in recording the whole 
process — the weights which were attached to the 
body, as well as how often, and during what length 
of time the culprit was suspended." 

"A third principal torture was that of the fire. The 
feet of the prisoner, already saturated with tallow or 
oil, were placed in a kind of stocks, and exposed to 
the heat of lighted charcoal — a process of roasting 
alive. This torture was, however, mainly confined to 
Italy, and was especially adapted to persons who 
were deformed, and to whom other modes of torture 
were not so easily applicable.* When his agony had 
reached its crisis, a moment's intermission was given 
* Llorente, Chap. XVI., page 119. 




PERSECUTIONS OF THE EARLY PROTESTANTS. 



(172) 



BLOODSHED. 173 



by the interposition of a board; the prisoner was 
then exhorted to confess, but if he would not, or 
could not, the roasting went on." 

" Sometimes small cords were bound around the 
thumbs so tightly that the blood poured out from be- 
neath the nails. Sometimes the body, placed against 
the wall and adequately supported, was tightly com- 
pressed by small cords affixed to the wall; then, the 
bench beneath the sufferer being removed, the body 
was left to hang by these cords alone. The reader 
can best conceive the suffering. Sometimes a small 
ladder, the transverse parts of which were made of 
sharpened wood, was placed against the shins of the 
victim, and was then violently struck with a ham- 
mer. The torture of this infliction was incredible. 
Sometimes ropes were placed about the wrists of the 
accused, and were then drawn tight by being passed 
over the back of the torturer, who leaned forward 
with all his might till the flesh was severed. The 
last tortures were inflicted on Orobio, a Spanish 
Jew, who related the facts to Limborch." — "Lim- 
borch's Inquisition ," pp. 46-48. 

Llorente says that historians have given many hor- 
rible, blood-curdling descriptions of the modes of 
torture adopted by the Inquisition. He thinks none 
of them can be exaggerated. He says there is not a 
papal law abolishing this horrible institution. 

McCabe relates some incidents in the persecution 
of the Vaudois, a few of which we give. He says the 
pope especially hated them. The Jesuits hunted 
them down ferociously. " Jordian Tertian was burned 
alive at Suza; Hyppolyte Bossier was burned at 
Turin; Villermin Ambroise was hanged on the Colde 



174 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 



Meane; Ugon Chaimps, of Fpnestrelle, was taken at 
Suza, and conducted to Turin, where his bowels were 
torn out and flung into a basin without his sufferings 
being terminated by even this frightful torture. 
Peter Geymonat, of Bibi, died at Lucerna, with a 
living cat in the interior of his body; Mary Bomaine, 
at Boche-Plate, and Madeleine Fontaine, at St. John, 
were buried alive; Michel Gonet, a man almost a 
hundred years of age, was burned alive at Sarcena; 
Susanna Michelin, at the same place, was left in a 
dying state upon the snow. Bartholomew Frache, 
having been hacked with sabers, had his wounds filled 
with quicklime, and expired in this manner at Fenil. 
Daniel Michelin had his tongue torn out at Bobi, for 
having praised God. Daniel Bevel had his mouth 
filled with gunpowder, which, being set on fire, tore 
off the top of his head. Paul Gamier was slowly 
mangled at Bora; Thomas Marguet was mutilated in 
an indescribable manner at the Fort of Mirabouc, and 
Susanna Jaquin was cut in pieces at La Tour. A 
number of young ladies, to escape outrages more 
dreadful than death, leaped from a precipice and 
perished among the rocks. Anne Charbonnier was 
impaled alive, and borne in this state like a banner 
from St. Jean to La Tour. At Paesane, Daniel 
Bambaud had his nails torn out, then his fingers cut 
off, then his feet and hands were severed by blows of 
hatchets, and then his arms and legs were separated 
from his body, upon each refusal that he made to 
abjure the gospel." 

He thinks all the rocks and meadows might witness 
to scenes of carnage. 

In 1560 many Vaudois were taken prisoners in 




ROMANISM AT WORK. 



(174) 



BLOODSHED. 175 



their religious meetings, and condemned to be burned 
three days after their incarceration, without plead- 
ings or examinations or the formalities of trial, 
simply on the accusation. "However, if they made 
profession of popery, they were set at liberty; but if 
they ref used to go to mass their heresy was demon- 
strated; in that case they had these three days al- 
lowed them to abjure, and if they did not yield an 
end was put to their life." Many prisoners perished 
without it being known what became of them. 

John Louis Pascal was publicly burned in the 
presence of Pope Pius IV. and his great men, on 
the square of St. Angelo, Rome, September, 1560. 
He was a young missionary; a preacher of gifts, 
grace, and eloquence. 

The Jesuits were the leaders. " Pome had become 
drunk with the blood of the saints, and the followers 
of Ignatius Loyola, the Jesuits — they call themselves 
the ' Society of Jesus ' — were proof against the feeling 
of pity. They murdered old men and children, with 
the most barbarous cruelty; they ravished women 
and then killed them; they burned villages, and laid 
waste farms and vineyards. To all these acts the 
priests gave their sanction. Murder, rape, arson, and 
robbery were perfectly lawful in their eyes when 
used against the Vaudois." Truly in these fearful 
times, " a rigid priestly despotism was enforced upon 
the Boman Catholic world, and liberty of conscience 
was denounced as the deadliest of all sins." (See 
"Cross and Crown," 38-42.) 

Samuel Smiles, in his book on the Huguenots, 
tells us of a persecution instigated by Pope Pius 
IV., in which thousands perished. The Duke of 



176 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

Alva boasted that he had sent 18,000 persons to the 
scaffold. 

Those were times of Rome's triumph and glory. 
There must have been tears of sorrow and sympathy 
in heaven, if tears ever fall in that blessed world, and 
hell must have held high carnival as the brutal work 
of destruction went on. The slain during Rome's 
reign of terror among men reaches into the millions. 
But thank God! "the blood of the martyr is the seed 
of the Church." The truth has inarched grandly for- 
ward. Jesus has been with his people, to bless the 
truth they preach in life, and to comfort, strengthen, 
and uphold them in the fiery baptism of death. He 
himself was betrayed by one who bore his name; his 
crucifixion was demanded by those who called them- 
selves the people of God. If our holy religion had 
to be tested by the lives of the merciless barbarians 
we are describing, who delighted in suffering and 
gloried in blood, we would all be driven from it as 
a farcical attempt cf the devil to ensnare us by a cor- 
rupt and churchly superstition. 

But no; this was not Christianity. It was the devil 
intrenched in the Church making an effort to pervert 
the gospel, dethrone Christ, and reign unmolested in 
the earth. Voltaire and other infidels, knowing noth- 
ing of Christianity but Roman Catholicism, abjured 
all religion and espoused infidelity — a very natural 
course for men who, knowing no Bible truth, mistake 
the superstition and intolerance of Rome for Chris- 
tianity. But lest our reader make the same mis- 
take, we will bid him note that these martyrs at the 
hands of Rome were martyrs for the gospel. They 
were butchered for praying, preaching, singing, tes- 



BLOODSHED. 177 



tifying, Bible reading, etc. Hear the following tes- 
timony: 

" The Bible itself came in for a large share of the 
anger of the Romanists. The pope and the clergy 
denounced the holy Book as the vilest of all publica- 
tions and the cause of all the mischief. Wherever a 
Bible printed in the common tongue was found, it was 
consigned to the flames. Men who were suspected of 
printing, selling, or circulating the Scriptures were 
seized and burned. In Paris alone, during the first 
six months of the year 1534, twenty men and one 
woman wejje burned for this cause. The Romanists 
even made war on the art of printing itself. They 
denounced it as of the devil, and endeavored to de- 
stroy it. The printers were everywhere anathema- 
tized as the enemies of God and the Church, and were 
seized and murdered upon the slightest pretext." 

"The cruelest torments were inflicted upon men, 
women, and children, merely because they dared to 
read God's holy Word in their own tongue." Rome 
did all she could to prevent the circulation and read- 
ing of the Scriptures, which is explained by the lan- 
guage of Christ: "And this is the condemnation, that 
light is come into the world, and men loved darkness 
rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For 
every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither 
cometh to the light, lest his deeds- should be reproved. 
But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that 
his deeds may be made manifest, that they are 
wrought in God." (John iii. 19-21.) 

Rome's dark deeds and hoary superstitions could 
not bear the light of God's Word. Wherever the 
Scriptures were read a reformation was effected. 
12 



178 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

Sobriety, peacefulness, good-will, morality succeed- 
ed; virtue and chastity took the place of profligacy 
and licentiousness; labor and frugality followed idle- 
ness and waste; peace and generosity supplanted 
strife and bitterness; the people sought God instead 
of the priest; and prayed in the name of Jesus, in- 
stead of supplicating the Virgin and the saints; they 
bowed before the holy Trinity instead of images and 
shrines; their souls rested in holy peace rather than 
superstitious awe and dread. The grace of Christ 
justified them; the Holy Spirit regenerated and 
sanctified them, and the holy life opened to their en- 
raptured vision the glories of the heavenly home 
without any fear of the fires of a popish purgatory. 

These triumphs of the Bible liberated the people 
from their vassalage to Rome; and consequently the 
pope and the priests were enraged, because their 
craft was in danger. The wrath of the Inquisition 
knew no bounds, and the fires of persecution blazed 
from almost every hill and vale. It was baptized 
superstition in a murderous contest with the word 
of God and its legitimate fruits, a redeemed and re- 
generate humanity. Though the struggle was long 
and severe, thank God the Bible triumphed and is 
to-day far in the van of redeemed humanity, leading 
its millions of humble followers up the highway of 
holiness to the happy home above — the God-built 
city. 

And even Rome, hoary with superstition, weighted 
with crime, and reddened with the blood of God's 
martyrs, is feeling some of the throbbings of its 
divine life. Sure we are that there are many in the 
fold of Rome who rise above her vain idolatries to 



BLOODSHED. 179 



the true God, whom they worship in spirit and in 
truth. May God bless them and increase their num- 
ber till they shall all hear God's call: " Come out of 
her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, 
and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins 
have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered 
her iniquities! " (Rev. xviii. 4, 5.) 

A Scene. 
. We will close this chapter with the account of the 
martyrdom of three members of the Reformed Church 
in Paris. They were captured with a congregation 
of about four hundred at the place of worship, and 
were guilty of no other crime than worshiping God 
as their consciences directed. The three we mention 
were Nicholas Clinet, a school-master ; Taurin Gra- 
velle, an advocate; and Philippa de Lunz, a young 
widow but twenty-two years of age, of devoted piety 
and great beauty. After long imprisonment they 
were cruelly murdered on the 27th of September, 
1558. 

By the terms of their barbarous sentence their 
tongues were to be cut out before leaving the prison, 
to prevent them from praying aloud or addressing 
the people. The executioner seized one of the men 
at the door of the prison, and ordered him to submit 
to the sentence of the court. The next moment the 
martyr's tongue was cut off at the roots. The other 
man suffered the same fate. Then, turning to Madame 
de Lunz, lie said to her roughly: "Put out your 
tongue, woman!" 

She did so immediately, and the executioner, 
struck with admiration for her intrepidity, exclaimed: 



180 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

"Come! that's well done, truande; you are not afraid 
then?" 

"As I do not fear for my body," she replied firmly, 
"why should I fear for my tongue." The next mo- 
ment the wretch threw her bleeding tongue at her feet. 

Thus mutilated and suffering, the martyrs were 
hurried off in a jolting cart for the place of execution. 
The rabble, among whom were the priests and monks, 
hooted at them brutally as they passed along. 

A crowd of the scum of Paris were gathered at the 
place of execution, dancing, singing, and screaming 
for blood. The king, with a number of priests, wit- 
nessed the scene from a window. 

The two men were first burned. As the flames 
seized their bodies, already weakened by pain and loss 
of blood, they gave utterance to the most piercing 
shrieks, and writhed in horrible agony. Madame de 
Lunz kept up her courage in prayer. 

At length her turn came. Two of the executioners,* 
approaching her, seized her roughly in their arms 
tearing her clothing from her as they did so, shame- 
fully exposing her person. Holding her in their arms 
they thrust her feet into the glowing coals of the pile 
on which her companions had died, and held them 
there until they were burned through to the bone. 
Then, reversing her position, they placed her head 
downward, and held her so until her scalp was burned 
off and her eyes scorched out. Even then she was 
alive, and was supporting her sufferings with Heaven- 
given strength. Finding that they had not killed 
her, and being sickened with their horrid work, the 
wretches strangled her, and threw her body into the 
flames, which soon consumed it. 



BLOODSHED. 181 



That night the priests boasted throughout Paris 
that they had sent another heretic to hell. It was a 
boast worthy of its authors. But theirs were not the 
only thanks that ascended to heaven over the martyr- 
dom of the brave woman and her companions. The 
prayers of the Church for which she had died were 
full of thanksgiving for that God, in his infinite 
mercy, had seen fit to give them the example of her 
life and death, that those who were left behind might 
be encouraged by it to be true to their duty, even 
though it should lead them to a similar fate. 
(Abridged from " Cross and Crown," 279-291.) 

The following table is from the " Cis- Atlantic 
Battle." It is based on a careful digest and com- 
parison of the criminal statistics of the several coun- 
tries, ranging through periods of ten to twenty years. 
The average committals per year for murder, in 

Protestant England is 72, or 4 to every million. 

Eornan Catholic Ireland is 180, or 19 to every million. 

Roman Catholic Belgium is 84, or 18 to every million. 

Eornan Catholic France is 4,089, or 31 to every million. 

Eornan Catholic Austria is 1,325, or 36 to every million. 

Eoman Catholic Bavaria is 311, or 68 to every million. 

Eoman Catholic Sardinia is 101, or 20 to every million. 

Eoman Catholic Lombardy is 235, or 45 to every million. 

Eoman Catholic Tuscany is 84, or 56 to every million. 

Papal States is 339, or 113 to every million. 

Eoman Catholic Sicily is 174, or 90 to every million. 

Eoman Catholic Naples is 1,045, or 174 to every million. 

These figures speak for themselves. 



Temporal Power, 



" My kingdom is not of this world." — Jesus. (John xviii. 36.) 
Though Christ was "the Son of God with power," 
the "King of kings and Lord of lords," yet he re- 
fused to accept the temporal sovereignty which the 
admiring multitudes at one time thought to force 
upon him. All things were his, and he could have 
ruled in royal splendor, but he would not. He ac- 
knowledged the right and justice of the civil jurisdic- 
tion apart from the spiritual. Though so poor he 
had no money, and had to send Peter to the sea to 
get his tax-money, yet he paid tribute and told men 
to "render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's; 
and unto God the things that are God's." (Matt. 
xxii. 21.) Thus he separated the temporal and spir- 
itual kingdoms. St. Paul bids "every soul be sub- 
ject unto the higher powers," and says they "are 
ordained of God;" that they "are not a terror to 
good works, but to the evil." We must be subject to 
them, paying tribute, "for they are God's ministers, 
attending continually upon this very thing." (See 
Rom. xiii. 1-7.) 

Notice here that this kingdom of Caesar is sepa- 
rated from God's spiritual kingdom, that it has its 
officers as God has his; and note, further, that Caesar's 
ministers "attend continually upon their own special 
work. For this cause tribute is rendered to Caesar, 
that he may maintain his government. Caesar's min- 
isters have neither time nor qualification for God's 
(182) 



TEMPORAL POWER. 183 

work, and God's ministers have neither time nor 
qualification for Caesar's work. Each has his own 
sphere of work in which to be constantly engaged. 
There should be no entanglement of the temporal 
and spiritual sovereignties, no union of Church and 
State. 

. This does not mean that the principles of our holy 
Christianity should not enter into government; no, 
by no means. Religion, a good conscience, a pure 
heart, a holy life, the love of God and man, should 
enter into every man's life — both ruler and subject 
should be guided constantly by the fear of God. 
But the governments should be separate. To illus- 
trate: The merchant must buy and sell as a Chris- 
tian — that is, transact his business in the fear of God 
with a good conscience — but he must not make his 
business a Church matter demanding the time and 
attention of the minister of God. The farmer, the 
physician, the lawyer, the mechanic, the capitalist, 
all, all, must transact their business on Christian prin- 
ciples; but their worldly affairs are not to be thrust 
upon the time, the care, the attention of the Church 
of God. The citizen must use his citizenship, his 
vote, his influence upon government and society as a 
Christian, as one who serves God and loves men, one 
who takes an interest in the welfare of all because 
he loves God and men. But he must not drag down 
the Church of God from her high and holy mission 
of preaching the gospel to save men from sin and 
glorify God, to the serving of tables — the manipulat- 
ing of Csesar's government. The Church must preach 
Christ as a present and complete Saviour from all 
sin till men enthrone him in their hearts and follow 



L 



184 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

his holy will in every transaction of life, in business, 
in social and civil affairs. 

Every officer ought to be a Christian man because: 
(1) Every individual should serve God, and the offi- 
cer of government is no exception to the rule. (2) 
The love of God and man will the better qualify 
him for his duties. "When the righteous are in 
authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked 
beareth rule, the people mourn." (Prov. xxix. 2.) 
Thus righteousness is the strength of a nation, 
whereas sin is its weakness and destruction: "Right- 
eousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to 
any people." (Prov. xiv. 34.) 

For the happiness of the people, for their pros- 
perity and national strength and glory, their rulers 
should be solid Christians; men who keep God's com- 
mandments and in all things consult his righteous 
laws, his holy will. 

But yet the Church of God must not be incum- 
bered with this work. • When the Church undertakes 
temporal government, she finds her time taken up 
and her strength consumed about Caesar's business, 
and thus she is unable to do the Lord's work. By 
this means the spiritual is neglected, the temporal 
things consume her zeal and power, and the Church 
as a spiritual force is virtually destroyed. If we 
would enjoy the benefits of God's spiritual reign in 
the Church, as a leaven to purify and ennoble both 
society and government, we must ever bear in mind 
what Jesus said, " My kingdom is not of this world; " 
and again, u The kingdom of God is within you." 
(Luke xvii. 21.) Let the Church preach Jesus to the 
dying world, until his grace transforms the world by 



TEMPORAL POWER. 185 

the personal salvation of each individual, and thus her 
mission will be accomplished in equipping good, love- 
ly homes and strong, sound governments. 

But here is where Rome has gone astray. She 
has blended Church and State, the temporal and 
spiritual, and in her doctrine of universal supremacy 
she would make the pope both temporal and spiritual 
sovereign of all nations; yea, the Lord of the uni- 
verse. But sometimes Catholics deny this, especially 
in these United States, where the union of Church 
and State is unpopular. We will furnish the proof. 
By her own words she shall be condemned. We give 
extracts from the Bull of Boniface VIII., Unum 
Sanctum. " We are taught by the words of the evan- 
gelist: In his power are two swords, the spiritual 
and the temporal. . . . Both swords are in the 
power of the Church — namely, the spiritual sword 
and the material sword — bat the one is to be exercised 
by the Church, and the other for the Church; that is 
the property of the priest in the hands of kings and 
soldiers, but at the nod and sufferance of the priest; 
for it behooves that one sword be subject to the other, 
and that the temporal authority be subject to the 
spiritual power. ... If the earthly power de- 
viates, it is judged by its superior; but if the 
supreme power deviates, it can be judged by God 
alone, not by man. Moreover we declare, affirm, de- 
fine, and pronounce, that it is altogether a matter of 
necessity to salvation for every human creature to 
be subject to the Roman pontiff." (Quoted from 
"Pop. Led," 11, 12.) 

The great Catholic theologian (St. Thomas Aqui- 
nas, as quoted by Bellarmin) says: "The pope by 



186 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

divine right hath spiritual and temporal power,, as 
supreme king of the world; so that he can impose 
taxes on all Christians, and destroy towns and castles 
for the preservation of Christianity." — "De Regim 
Princip." Lib. III. c. 10, 19. 

Bellarmin speaks of two opinions on supremacy. 
He says: "The first opinion is that the pope, by 
divine right, hath supreme power over the whole 
world, both in ecclesiastical and civil affairs." — "Bell 
de Pontiff," v. 1. 

Pope Gregory in his Maxims says: " It is lawful for 
the pope to depose emperors. The pope can absolve 
subjects from their oath of allegiance,, which they 
have taken to a bad prince." {Fiftieth Letter, Second 
Book. These are quoted from " Cis- Atlantic Battle.") 

Pope Nicholas I. wrote to the Emperor of Constan- 
tinople: " Know, prince, that the vicars of Christ are 
above the judgment of mortals; and that the most 
powerful sovereigns have no right to punish the 
crimes of popes, how enormous soever they be. 
. . . Cease, then, to oppose our rights, and obey 
our orders, or else we will, in our turn, raise our 
power against yours, and will say to the nations: 
People, cease to bow your heads before your proud 
masters. Overthrow these impidus sovereigns, these 
sacrilegious kings, who have arrogated to themselves 
the right of commanding men and of taking away 
the liberty of their brethren. Fear, then, our wrath 
and the thunders of our vengeance; for Jesus Christ 
has appointed us with his own mouth absolute 
judges of all men, and kings themselves are sub- 
mitted to our authority." 

Elsewhere this impious pontiff declares: "We 



TEMPORAL POWER. 187 

alone have the power to bind and to loose, to absolve 
Nero, and to condemn him; and Christians cannot, 
under penalty of excommunication, execute other 
judgment than ours, which alone is infallible. . . . 
If we declare a king heretical and sacrilegious; if 
we drive him from the Church, clergy and laity, 
whatever their rank, are freed from their oaths of 
fidelity, and may revolt against his power." — "History 
of the Popes," L, 242-214. 

" Gratian relates a decree in which this abominable 
prelate makes himself equal with God himself: 'It is 
evident,' wrote Nicholas, 'that the popes can neither 
be bound nor unbound by any earthly power, nor 
even by that of the apostle if he should return upon 
earth; since Constantine the Great has recognized 
that the pontiffs held the place of God upon earth, 
the divinity not being able to be judged by any living 
man. We are then infallible, and whatever may be 
our acts we are not accountable for them but to our- 
selves.' "—"History of the Popes," /., 248. 

From the actions of the Eoman pontiffs one may 
readily suppose that many of them have acted upon 
this principle. They have certainly defied all laws of 
God and man. But why not? According to Eome's 
dogma of transubstantiation any, even ever so ob- 
scure, Catholic priest can make his god out of a -piece 
of bread, and on eating the bread he devours "the 
whole Christ, body, soul, and divinity." He who can 
thus make the real God out of a crust of bread must 
certainly be infallible, and is surely responsible to no 
power in heaven, earth, or hell. 

John VIII. crowned the Emperor Charles the Bald, 
and remarked to him: "Do not forget, prince, that 



188 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

the popes have the right to create emperors." — "His- 
tory of the Popes," /., 260. 

This must not be forgotten, of course. Eome 
would have all the world remember that matter. 

We could fill a volume with the arrogant assertions 
of these self-constituted lords of creation. Since the 
day that Lucifer hoped to secure the throne of Deity, 
no other such claims have ever been made in any 
realm of which we have account as the popes have 
made. They have usurped authority over the souls 
and bodies of men. They have wrecked empires, 
crushed nations, dethroned kings, degraded rulers, 
robbed the rich, filched the earnings of the poor, 
squandered the wealth of the miserable victims of 
their superstitions. Yea, they have blasphemed God, 
dethroned Christ, invented purgatory, and peopled it 
with the souls of their victims to rob the pockets of 
the living; yea, they have shut the gates of heaven, 
and sent millions to perdition by substitutes for the 
gospel of Christ. Now they gravely rise up and try 
to justify their insatiable avarice and unbridled am- 
bition by saying that God has turned over to them 
the reins of universal empire, and guaranteed to them 
the spirit of infallible wisdom. 

Bat we w r ill once more hear De Cormenin: 

" This embittered strife between the popes and the 
emperors is a very remarkable fact in the history of 
the Church. Since the pontificate of Gregory VII., 
the Holy See, which derived all its power from the 
emperors of the West, declares itself their implaca- 
ble enemy. The court of Borne no longer defends 
its rights by invoking charters granted by princes; 
it is from God alone that it pretends to hold its tern- 



TEMPORAL POWER. 189 

poral as well as its spiritual power; and this principle 
of theocracy once established, the popes deduce from 
it frightful consequences; they declare themselves 
the masters and rulers of the entire world; they call 
themselves infallible; they attribute to themselves- 
the same prerogatives as the Divinity; they. proudly 
call themselves the vicars of Christ, the representa- 
tives of God on earth! 

"Thus they dispose of thrones and empires, over- 
throw the one, reconstruct the other; and according 
to the caprices of their imagination or the interests 
of their policy, they urge nations into interminable 
wars. Men are for them machines which they use to 
draw gold from the bowels of the earth, instruments 
which they eropjoy to raise statues and palaces for 
them (selves). /Tin ally, these hypocritical pontiffs in 
the nare of a God of humility, elevate the chair of 
St. Peter above the throne of kings, in the name 
of a God of charity despoil the unfortunate people, 
in the name of a God of mercy cause the unfortu- 
nate victims of their fanaticism to expire in tortures." 
—"History of the Popes;' L, 472. 

The popes for more than a thousand years have 
bent all their energies to secure universal temporal 
sovereignty. They have opposed the accepted kings 
and rulers of such nations as would not submit to 
them. They have controlled armies, sometimes at 
their head, and they have levied their tithes and 
Peter's Pence upon their followers in all nations to 
carry on their wars. When their own armies were 
not sufficient to meet their antagonist, they used all 
the arts of which they were possessed to bring oth- 
ers to their aid. Thus they are responsible for most 



190 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

of the bloody strifes which have deluged the nations 
in blood for the past eight or ten centuries. In il- 
lustration of this we give the following. The pope 
was in a war with the Lombards, and seeing no other 
way of getting help he forged a letter which he pre- 
tended was from St. Peter in heaven. We will have 
Dr. Ford tell it: 

"One of the most audacious things ever perpetrat- 
ed, even by a pope, was the letter of Stephen II. to 
Pepin, between the first and second campaigns 
against the Lombards. His words were: 'Ego, Pet r us 
Apostolus, qui vos adoptivus habeo filios,' etc. 'I, Peter 
the Apostle, who have adopted you as my son, com- 
manding you from my God to defend the city arjd 
people of Rome — the place where my flesh rests, not 
to be contaminated by an abominable race,' etc. 

"This and the accompanying appeals had their ef- 
fect. The adopted son, whom the pope absolved from 
his oath of allegiance, and whose treason he had jus- 
tified, turned to his and St. Peter's aid. All that the 
Lombards had conquered was retaken, and a title to 
those territories placed on the pretended tomb of St. 
Peter. Though it was acknowledged that the Lom- 
bards had captured these territories [around Rome] 
from the viceroy [exarch] of the Greek emperor, 
Pepin declared he had reconquered them for St. 
Peter. By this gift or transfer the pope became a 
temporal king and was numbered with the princes of 
this world A.D. 755. The compact between the trai- 
tor king and the ambitious priest w T as consummated, 
and from that dates the temporal power of the pope, 
which lasted with some interruption down to 1870." 
—"Chris. Repos." 



TEMPORAL POWER. 191 



What might not be expected from pretended infal- 
libles, who could gain temporal ascendency by such 
audacious frauds? By such tricks he has held na- 
tion against nation and army against army, till his 
throne has been built, as it were, on human desola- 
tion, of human flesh and bones, and cemented with 
human blood. 

Pope Adrian I., 772-795 A.D., was also at war with 
the Lombards. He gained the day through the vic- 
torious arms of Charlemagne. Now let Dr. Ford re- 
veal to our readers the trick resorted to by the head 
of the Roman Church ( ! ) : 

" The object of the popes was not so much to sup- 
press the Lombards, or to save Rome, which was 
really in no danger; it was to secure temporal power, 
political rule, the possession of several little states or 
dukedoms in Southern Italy, including Rome itself. 
To accomplish this appeared at this period the forged 
donation of Constantine. This document (acknowl- 
edged by the Roman Church in A.D. 1132 to have 
been a forgery) pretended to be a donation by Con- 
stantine the Great (when he removed the capital' to 
Constantinople) to Pope Sylvester, of what was 
claimed as the ' States of the Church,' inasmuch as 
Sylvester had miraculously cured the emperor of 
the leprosy, and not only these States, but all Italy. 
It also alleged that Sylvester had baptized the empe- 
ror — a glaring falsehood." — "Chris. Bepos" 

"Holy Rome," under the dominion of "holy 
popes," forging deeds for temporal sovereignty, and 
apostolical letters to secure the aid of armies ! Still 
some say the Roman hierarchy seeks only spiritual, 
not temporal, dominion. 



192 THE DANGER SIGNAL, 



De Cormenin tells us that "Gregory V. during a 
reign of two years and nine months, committed an 
irreparable evil to Italy, by taking away from it the 
election of the emperors, threw Spain into commo- 
tion, and laid the foundation for great disasters to 
France by abasing royalty, and submitting it to the 
sacerdotal power." 

But where would the end be if we had to follow the 
popes and their allies in their struggles for the king- 
ly prerogative among the nations? To bring before 
the reader even a bird's-eye view of the gory strug- 
gles of the popes for the dominion over the nations 
would consume more space than we can spare. We 
would have to sketch some part of the reign of al- 
most every pope who has worn the tiara since the 
death of Gregory the Great, A.D. 604. He opposed 
the doctrine now so tenaciously held by Rome in very 
emphatic language. Hear him: '"I say without the 
least hesitation: WJioever calls himself the universal 
bishop, or desires this title, is, by his pride, the pre- 
cursor of antichrist because he thus attempts to 
raise himself above the others." Thus one infalli- 
ble (!) pope uttered language that condemns as 
ANTICHBIST the Church oe Eome to-day, and 
to whose doctrine the most, if not all, of his in- 
fallible ( ! ) successors have subscribed tod to the 
promulgation of which they have devoted their best 
talents, their most untiring energies. To follow the 
popes in their efforts for universal dominion, tempo- 
ral as well as spiritual, we would have to write the 
histories of the Roman Church since the death of 
Gregory the Great to this very hour. The Johns, 
the Leos, the Adrians, the Clements, the Piuses, the 



TEMPORAL POWER. 193 

Pauls, the Bonifaces, the Nicholases, the Urbans, the 
Alexanders, the Luciuses, the Victors, the Benedicts, 
the Innocents, etc. We would see armies surround- 
ing them supported by the offerings of "the faith- 
ful," and the sale of old bones, pieces of wood, or in- 
dulgences; kings would be seen trembling before 
them like culprits, kissing their feet, holding their 
stirrups, walking by the j)ope's side while he rode in 
regal splendor, or signing away the liberties of their 
people for the poor privilege of sitting upon a throne 
that might be wrested from them any day when the 
caprice, ambition, or avarice of the pope should de- 
mand it. The popes for hundreds of years wielded 
greater political influence than any of the rightful 
rulers of the kingdoms of this world. 

But I am asked how this could be. We think the 
answer easy. An ignorant and superstitious people 
are easily enslaved by cunning intriguers under the 
mask of a gaudy and ceremonial religion. Rome en- 
slaved her subjects in the name of religion. She 
kept the people blinded by unexampled ignorance 
and especially of the Scriptures, as heretofore shown, 
and she enslaved them by the most intricate and dia- 
bolical system of superstition, ever known in Chris- 
tendom. Notice a few proofs: 

I. Ignorance. 

1. She is against books. 

She even now has her list of condemned books. 
She has burned books by thousands — yes, and even 
their authors and sellers. 

2. Against science and philosophy. 

Witness her harsh dealings with Galileo. The pope, 
Urban VIII. , decreed: "In the name and by the au- 
13 



194 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

thority of Jesus Christ, the plenitude of which re- 
sides in his vicar, the pope, we declare that the 
teaching that the earth is not the center of the uni- 
verse, and that it moves with a diurnal motion, is ab- 
surd, philosophically false, and erroneous in faith." 
On the basis of this infallible (! ) decree Galileo was 
forced, in order to save his life, to sign this declara- 
tion: " I abjure, curse, and detest the error and heresy 
of the motion of the earth." Pope Zachary pro- 
scribed and condemned "to all the tortures invented 
by man " the philosopher Virgil, " that Scotch priest, 
who dares maintain that there exists another world, 
and other men upon that world; other suns and oth- 
er moons in the heavens; and who affirms that to be 
a Christian it is enough to follow the morality of the 
Bible and to practice its precepts, without even be- 
ing baptized." He was prohibited "from raising his 
abominable voice in the presence of the faithful as- 
sembled in the house of God." 

3. Against the Bible. 

It has been burned by many thousands. It is yet 
buried under the rubbish of traditions, and that mis- 
erable piece of humbuggery called " the unanimous 
consent of the Fathers;" for it is certain that the 
only thing they ever did agree in was to constantly 
contradict, and frequently anathematize, each other. 
This is a virtual prohibition of the Bible, as it effect- 
ually hides its celestial truths from the poor deluded 
slave of the pope. 

But Rome cannot rest by simply blowing out the 
lamp of learning; she must also put out, so to speak, 
the eyes of her followers with: 



TEMPORAL POWER. 195 

II. Her Superstitions. 
We will mention a few: 

1. She says she is the only Church. No salvation 
anywhere else. 

2. Her pope is the vicar of Christ; God's represent- 
ative on earth. 

3. The pope is infallible; his voice is the direct 
voice of God. 

4. The priest can forgive sin, or send the soul to 
hell. Absolution and excommunication. 

5. Purgatory. The priest is needed to get the soul 
out of those horrid flames. 

6. Penance. Any penance required must be per- 
formed. Here was — is — great power. 

7. Saints and images. These give Rome great 
power over her blinded followers. 

8. Transubstantiation. This fallacious dogma puts 
the Catholic at the feet of his priest. The priest is 
supposed to actually make God out of a piece of bread 
by pronouncing over it a few words. He who makes 
his God must be implicitly obeyed. 

9. Add to these all her weird trappings: burning 
candles, holy w T ater, sign of the cross, vestments, 
pictures, relics, incense, prayers in an unknown 
tongue, celibate priests, lordly bishops, fasts, feasts, 
holy days, extreme unction, and that degrading insti- 
tion, auricular confession, and you see one of the 
most consummate systems of superstition, idolatry, 
and priestly tyranny that human genius and diabol- 
ical cunning have ever produced. And it was not the 
invention of a day, but the accumulated aggregation 
of centuries of fanaticism, tyranny, and corruption. 

Finding it backed by such an enslaving system of 



196 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

theology as we have just so briefly reviewed, let us 
notice a few other propositions advanced by the Ro- 
man hierarchy, and it will at once be seen to be one 
of the most perfect organizations for temporal sov- 
ereignty on earth. And although it does not hold 
the kingly position in any government, it neverthe- 
less holds the keys of power in many governments at 
this day. It is the source of unrest to many nations, 
the heaving volcano threatening a terrific eruption 
beneath many governments at this very time. But 
to the proof. We cite Rome's own words from her 
popes, councils, bishops, and standard theological 
writers. In reading these remember her past history, 
and you will understand the Rome of to-day. 

Cardinal Manning represents the pope in the fol- 
lowing strong language: "I acknowledge no civil 
power; I am the subject of no prince. I am more 
than this. I claim to be the supreme judge and di- 
rector of the consciences of men: of the peasant who 
tills his field and of the prince who sits upon the 
throne; of the household that lives in the shade of 
privacy, and the legislator that makes laws for the 
kingdom. I am the sole, last, supreme judge of what 
is right or wrong. Moreover, we declare, affirm, de- 
fine, and pronounce it to be necessary to salvation to 
every human creature to be subject to the Roman 
pontiff."— Tablet, October 9, 1864. 

Now hear the following application of the above 
principle in an old statute of the Roman hierarchy — 
we cannot say Church with good grace : 

"We excommunicate [and Rome's excommunica- 
tion is intended for eternity as well as time] and 
anathematize every heresy that exalts itself against 



TEMPORAL POWER. 197 

the holy, orthodox, and Catholic faith, condemning 
all heretics, by whatever name tbey may be known. 
. . . Such as are condemned are to be delivered 
over to the existing secular powers to receive due pun- 
ishment." Ah, says one, but suppose the secular gov- 
ernment will not punish them? Very well, Rome 
has provided for this emergency. " Secular powers 
of all ranks and degrees are to be warned, induced, 
and, if necessary, compelled by ecclesiastical cen- 
sure, to swear that they will exert themselves to the 
utmost in the defense of the faith, and extirpate all 
heretics denounced by the Church who shall be 
found in their territories. And whenever any person 
shall assume, government, whether it be spiritual or - 
temporal, he shall be bound to abide by this decree. 

"If any temporal lord, after having been admon- 
ished and required by the Church shall neglect to 
clear his territory of heretical depravity, the metro- 
politan and bishop of the province shall unite in ex- 
communicating him. Should he remain contumacious 
a whole year, the fact shall be signified to the su- 
preme pontiff, who will declare his vassals released 
from their allegiance from that time, and will bestow 
his territory on Catholics, to be occupied by them on 
condition of exterminating the heretics and preserv- 
ing the said territory in the faith." — Decree of the 
Lateran Council, 1215, A.B. 

" The pope has the right to pronounce sentence of 
deposition against any sovereign, when required by 
the good of the Spiritual Order." — "Brownson's Be- 
view" 

But suppose kings and other rulers refuse to do 
the bidding of the pope ? 



198 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 



We reply by showing the Catholic solution of the 
matter: 

"I, the son of the holy faith, No. , promise and 

swear to sustain the altar and the papal throne, to 
exterminate heretics, liberals, and all the enemies of 
the Church, without pity for the cries of children, or 
of men and women. So help me God." (The oath 
of the Sanfediste, a papal society established 1821. 
Quoted by JBrooks. ) But here is the regular vow of 
every Catholic: "I promise true obedience to the 
Bishop of Eome, successor to St. Peter, prince of the 
apostles, and vicar of Jesus Christ." — Profession of 
Catholic Faith, 

True obedience can never be rendered to him who 
" acknowledges no civil power," without an unswerv- 
ing devotion to the pope's claim of universal tempo- 
ral and spiritual supremacy. Now hear " The Catho- 
lic Vindicator" an English Catholic paper, on this 
point: 

" We would not hesitate to tell the queen to her 
face that she must either be content with this divid- 
ed allegiance or none at all; for it is perfectly cer- 
tain that we shall never do otherwise than strictly 
obey the sovereign pontiff, whoever may presume to 
forbid.' 1 — Quoted from " C is- Atlantic Battle" 285. 

"It is of faith that the pope has the right of de- 
posing heretical and rebel kings. Monarchs, so de- 
posed by the pope, are converted into notorious ty- 
rants, and may be killed by the first who can reach 
them."— Saurez, "Def. Fid/Ek V., Ch. 4. No. 13, quot- 
ed from "Fifty Years hi the Church of Eome." 

" When a king is excommunicated for his apostasy, 
it follows from that very fact that all those who are 



TEMPORAL POWER. 199 

his subjects are released from the oath of allegiance 
by which they were bound to obey him." — "St. Thos. 
Aquinas;' Vol. IV., 91. 

Thus we see Borne proposes to release subjects 
from their rulers and then authorize the killing of 
the heretical monarch. But if it be objected that 
the subject has taken an oath of allegiance to his 
chief ruler, we answer that by the casuistries of Borne 
the pope claims authority to release from all oaths 
that stand in his way. Bemember that ail Catholics 
must swear "true obedience" to the pope, and as he 
has power to forgive sins and release from oaths, 
standing above all mortals, even in God's place, his 
power in temporal affairs is necessarily great. Thom- 
as Aquinas says when an oath is in the way, against 
the public good, "the pope has full power to release 
from that oath."— Vol, IV., Art. 9, Ques. 89. 

Again, " when a crime is well concealed, the wit- 
ness, and even the criminal, may and even must 
swear that the crime has not been committed." — 
Liguori, quoted by C. Cliiniquy. 

Father Chiniquy, once a Catholic priest, says: 
" What long and painful efforts it cost me to extin- 
guish, one by one, the lights of truth and reason 
kindled by the hand of my merciful God in my intel- 
ligence! For to study theology in the Church of 
Borne signifies to learn to speak falsely, to deceive, 
to commit robbery, to perjure one's self. It means 
how to commit sins without shame, it means to 
plunge the soul into every kind of iniquity and tur- 
pitude without remorse. ^' — "Fifty Years in the Church 
of Rome;' 119. 

Truly Borne debases man. She hardens his heart, 



200 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

perverts liis conscience, crushes his reason, pollutes 
his morals, poisons his God-akin religious nature, 
and thus turns him loose on society, the enemy of 
good government, the slave of his power-loving pope. 
Of course there are many noble hearts, especially 
under the refining influences of the Bible in Protest- 
ant lands, who do not sink thus into the foul meshes 
of Eome. But we speak of the natural — yea, fre- 
quent — result. Even paganism produced its Socrates, 
and Christian America its Aaron Burr; but these are 
not the normal developments of the respective sys- 
tems. So we speak of the natural result, and not of 
the noble exceptions, of the teachings. Many in her 
communion may not accept all of her teachings; then 
why remain in her fold? for she claims the right, by 
all the powers of heaven, earth, and hell, to enforce 
every one of her principles. 

With a few more testimonies we may close this 
chapter. 

Pope Puis IX., the pontiff who just preceded the 
now reigning Leo XIII., said: "The absurd and er- 
roneous doctrines, or ravings, in defense of liberty of 
conscience are a most pestilential error — a pest of 
all others most to be dreaded in a State." (Eucyc. 
Let. } August 15, 1854.) He also anathematized all 
"those who assert the liberty of conscience and of 
religious worship," also "all such as maintain that 
the Church may not employ force." — Ibid., December 8, 
1864. 

"Protestantism, of every form, has not, and never 
can have, any right where Catholicity is triumphant." 
— " Cath. Rev. 7 ' 

" Religious liberty is merely endured until the op- 



) 



^i 



TEMPORAL POWER. 201 

posite can be carried into effect without peril to the 
Ca-tholic world." — Bishop O'Connor. 

" No good government can exist without religion, 
and there can be no religion without an Inquisition, 
which is wisely designed for the promotion and pro- 
tection of the true faith." — "Boston Pilot" 

"The profession of the papist is indispensable as 
a qualification for the exercise of civil and political 
rights."— Pope Pius, March 14, 1848. 

The following from the Rambler, a Catholic paper 
published in London, gives no uncertain sound: 
" Religious liberty, in the sense of a liberty possessed 
by every man to choose his religion, is one of the 
most wicked delusions ever foisted upon this age by 
the father of all deceit. The very name of liberty 
— except in the sense of a permission to do certain 
definite acts — ought to be banished from the domain 
of religion. It is neither more nor less than false- 
hood. No man has the rigid to choose his religion. 
None but an atheist can uphold the principles of re- 
ligious liberty. /Shall I foster that damnable doc- 
trine that Socinianism and Calvinism and Anglican- 
ism and Judaism are not every one of them mortal 
sins, like murder and adultery? Shall I hold out 
hopes to my erring Protestant brother that I will 
not meddle with his creed if he will not meddle with 
mine? Shall I tempt him to forget that he has no 
more right to his religious views than he has to my 
purse, to my house, or to my life-blood? No, 
Catholicism is the most intolerant of creeds. It is 
intolerance itself; for it is the truth itself." — Quoted 
from "Our Country" 

How does this sound to the freemen of the United 



202 THE DANGEB SIGNAL, 

States ? How can lovers of liberty, a free press, and 
an open Bible receive such insolence? 

"Heresy and unbelief are crimes; and in Christian 
countries, as in Italy and Spain, for instance, where 
all the people are Catholics, and where the Catholic 
religion is an essential part of the law of the land, 
they are punished as other crimes." — Archbishop Hen- 
tli'lck, of St. Louis. . 

In connection with this let the reader note carefully 
the following: "Undoubtedly it is the intention of 
the pope to possess this country. In this intention 
he is aided by the Jesuits and all the Catholic prel- 
ates and priests." — Broicnsoii's Review" May, 1864. 

" You should do all in your power to carry out the in- 
tentions of his Holiness, the pope. Where you have 
the electoral franchise, give your votes to none but 
those who assist you in so holy a struggle. — Daniel 
O'Connell 

The pope is trying by every strategy at his com- 
mand to take possession of these United States, and 
already thousands of voters are quietly turning the 
political scales in his favor. My countrymen, you are 
sleeping on a volcano. Study this chapter, then turn 
back and re-read the chapter on bloodshed. We will 
resume this subject and show some of Koine's meth- 
ods and some of the signs of her progress in the 
second part of this book. In the meantime let us all 
keep wide awake, humble, patient, and prayerful. 



Avarice. 



"The love of money is the root of all [kinds of] evil." (1 
Tim. vi. 10.) Not money, but the love of it, is the source of evil. 

All kinds of sin have been committed for money; 
. murder, theft, lying, oppression, robbery, Sabbath- 
breaking, adultery, forgery, and fraud have been com- 
mitted through the love of money. Men gamble for 
money; sell whisky, which blights the life, wrecks 
the home, and curses the soul, for money. Achan 
troubled the Israel of God, and Judas betrayed the 
God of Israel for money. The silversmiths opposed 
the progress of the gospel in Asia because they loved 
money — their craft was in danger. We shall prove 
before this chapter ends that Roman Catholicism 
does the same. 

Money as a servant is very useful. It builds 
houses and furnishes them; establishes schools and 
equips them; founds hospitals, and supports them; 
constructs railroads, and runs them; founds colleges, 
and endows them. It nourishes trade, facilitates 
commerce, beautifies the home, encourages industry, 
and makes the desert land to flourish in the lap of 
plenty, and arrays it in architectural splendor. More 
than this, it circulates the Bible, supports the living 
ministry, builds churches and parsonages, helps the 
poor, and scatters abroad the blessings of our pre- 
cious gospel. Thus money as a servant is as an angel 
of God. 

But when men lose sight of the fact that money is 
but a servant, and begin to bow before it as their lord 

(203) 



204 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

and master, it at once does incalculable damage. 
Fire is an indispensable servant, but O what havoc 
is wrought when it becomes the master! In a few 
moments it consumes the labor of years. It licks up 
the humble home, devours the stately mansion, and 
sweeps away the dwellings and business of the great 
city. So with water. As a servant it bears mighty 
ships, and supports the commerce of nations; it 
supplies the giant force of steam, when combined with 
fire, and thus saves the strength of man. But when 
the torrents descend, the rivers rise, and the floods 
roar, the w T ater which had been such an excellent 
servant becomes a raging master whose fury sweeps 
away property, quenches life, and devastates the 
land. 

In like manner money as- a servant helps us in 
time, and may be turned by a divine alchemy into 
imperishable treasures in the eternal city of God, 
whose streets are paved with purest gold. Set the 
heart on God; love him, serve him, delight in him. 
Use money as your servant, that by its aid you may 
the better serve the King. But if man allows his 
heart to place its affections on money, it at once be- 
comes his master. It consumes his mind in servile 
slavery to the money-god, while the. body wastes away 
in toil at his imperious demand. On the altar of the 
money-god, when the heart's love bows to his scepter, 
man sacrifices time, talent, honor, education, friend- 
ships, conscience, soul and body — yea, earth and 
heaven. Then God is forgotten, the Bible slighted, 
salvation neglected, and the poor, blind, greedy, eovet- 
eous idolater sacrifices himself, his all, for time and 
eternity, to his god of gold — Mammon. Thousands 



AVARICE. 205 



are doing this. Some who read this are the idolaters 
we describe, yet ever. ready to indorse it all only if 
it be considered to apply to some one else. Reader, 
are you guilty ? Remember the words of Paul : " Cov- 
eteousness is idolatry." (Col. iii. 5.) 

We find here one of the rocks on which Roman 
Catholicism has wrecked. Can we prove this? Let 
us see. 

1. Rome sells masses. 

Hear this: "We constantly hold that there is a 
purgatory; and that the souls therein detained are 
helped by the suffrages of the faithful— that is, by the 
prayers and alms offered for them, and principally 
by the holy sacrifice of the mass."— "Grounds of CatJi. 
Doct," 47. 

Rome invented purgatory, or rather incorporated it 
from paganism, to get money. The mass is the prin- 
cipal means, she says, to get souls out of those flames, 
but she allows the prayers and alms (gifts-) to assist 
in the good work. But what is the mass? It is the 
sacrament of the Lord's Supper and the accompany- 
ing ceremonies as used by the Catholic Church. 
The priests have built up an immense trade in the 
mass as used for the deliverance of souls from purga- 
tory. 

Rev. C. Chiniquy reports the conversation below, 
which occurred in his hearing when he was a Catho- 
lic priest: "Mr. Louis Parent said to the Rev. Mr. 
Tetu: 'I have handed this morning more than one 
hundred dollars to the bishop, as the price of the 
masses which my pious penitents have requested me 
to celebrate, the greatest part of them for the souls 
in purgatory. Every week I have to do the same 



206 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

thing, just as each of you, and every one of the hun- 
dreds of priests in Canada have to do. Now I would 
like to know how the bishops can dispose of all these 
masses, and what they do with the large sums of 
money which go into their hands from every part of 
the country to have masses said. This question vexes 
me, and I would like to know your mind about it.' 

" The good curate answered in a joking manner, as 
usual: 'If the masses paid into our hands, which go 
to the bishop, are all celebrated, purgatory must be 
emptied twice a day. For I have calculated that the 
sums given for those masses in Canada cannot be 
less than $4,000 every day, and, as there are three 
times as many Catholics in the United States as here, 
and as those Irish Catholics are more devoted to the 
souls in purgatory than tlia Canadians, there is no 
exaggeration in saying that they give as much as our 
people; $16,000, at least, will thus be given every day 
in these two countries to throw cold water on the 
burning flames of that fiery prison. Now these $16,- 
000, given every day, multiplied by 365 days of the 
year, make the handsome sum of $5,840,000 paid for 
that object in low masses, every year. But, as we 
all know since more than twice as much is paid for 
high masses than for the low, it 'is evident that more 
than $10,000,000 is expended to help the souls of 
purgatory end their tortures every twelve months, in 
North America alone. If those millions of dollars 
do not benefit the good souls in purgatory, they at all 
events are of some benefit to our pious bishops and 
holy popes, in whose hands the greatest part must 
remain till the day of judgment. For there is not a 
sufficient number of priests in the world to say all 



AVARICE. 207 



the masses which are paid for by the people. I do 
not know any more than you do what the bishops do 
with those millions of dollars; they keep that among 
their secret good works. But it is evident that there 
is mystery here. . . . Every time I think of those 
streams of money which day and night flow from the 
small purses of our pious and unsuspecting people 
into our hands, and from ours into those of the bish- 
ops, I feel as if I were choking." — "Fifty years in the 
Church of Rome," 243. 

How is this? Some priests talking thus to each 
other, to be heard only among themselves, bring out 
the fact that Catholic bishops are growing rich off of 
the earnings of the people by sale of the elements 
representing the broken body and shed blood of the 
Saviour. Pretending in this solemn hoar to pray 
souls out of an imaginary purgatory, they are but 
piling up gold. 

Rev. Mr. Chiniquy goes on to show that the priests 
charge at the rate of twenty-five cents each for low 
masses, and then the bishop sends them to Paris, 
France, to be said at five cents each, while he pockets 
the twenty cents for commission — a rather large com- 
mission, four-fifths! But those sent to France, he 
says, fall into the hands of merchants, who peddle 
them out, and they are never said at all. Still the 
bishops, the merchants, and the French local priests 
live, and the bereaved imagine that mass has been 
said to get their friends out of purgatory. But this 
is perhaps all right, since purgatory was added to the 
Roman theology for such purpose, no doubt. 

Writers who have been in the fold of Rome unite 
in picturing poor widows and orphans having to give 



208 THE DANGEK SIGNAL. 

up the last cow, horse, pig — yea, the last cent — to avari- 
cious priests who were wallowing in ease and luxury. 
The widow heart-broken and in tears, the children in 
want and squalor, begging for mercy and help while 
the heartless, rapacious priest would take the last cent 
to get the soul of the departed out of purgatory ! It 
is an insult to the God of love, the gospel of grace, 
and the common sense of mankind. 

2. Borne sells, or has sold, indulgences. 

In a former chapter we gave a price-list of the tax 
on the sins licensed by Home under Pope John the 
Twenty-second. Turn back and read it, and ask 
yourself how much of the spirit of Christ and the 
Bible can be found in it. 

" When the glorious Reformation first broke out, 
Martin Luther meant only to attack an abuse — name- 
ly, Tetzel's most avaricious system of the sale of in- 
dulgences for raising money for building St. Peter's. 
He did not mean to leave tli£ Church of Home. It 
was only when he went to head-quarters, and saw 
that all was vile and black there, that he discovered 
that it w T as the mystery of iniquity, and not the 
Church of Christ. He meant only to attack the sale 
of indulgences; but it was overruled to the destruc- 
tion of the whole." — "Gumming* s Minor Works" 
Vol. L 

De Cormenin quotes Bishop Rathier in the tenth 
century as saying of the bishops and archbishops, 
among many other things: "When their treasury is 
empty, they sell absolutions in public, and add hy- 
pocrisy to the ignoble scandal of their debauchery." 

The historian also tells us that " a synod of French 
bishops was held at Limoges (about A.D. 1027), 



AVARICE. 209 



who reformed the judgments of the pope (John 
XIX.) and prohibited the court of Rome from sell- 
ing absolution to the excommunicated, to the insult 
of the bishops." But Ponce, Count of Auvergne, had 
been anathematized for deserting his wife and marry- 
ing another. "The guilty man had dared to present 
himself at Rome, and bought absolution from the holy 
father." 

Tetzel, in selling indulgences, said he had saved 
more soujs thereby than St. Peter by his sermons„ 
He said: "There is no sin so great, that an indul- 
gence cannot remit; and even if any one (which is 
doubtless impossible) had offered violence to the 
blessed Virgin Mary, mother of God, let him pay, 
only let him pay well, and all will be forgiven him." 
What an insult is this to pure womanhood and com- 
mon decency! Again he says of purgatorial deliver- 
ance: "The very moment that the money rattles at 
the bottom of the chest, the soul escapes from purga- 
tory and flies liberated to heaven." — D'Aubigne's 
"History of the Reformation" 

Gregory XV. published an extraordinary jubilee to 
gain money, and he found high official encourage- 
ment in Germany in the sale of indulgences. Pope 
Alexander VI., A.D. 1491-1503, "carried on a large 
trade in crucifixes, relics, and indulgences, which 
brought him in large sums. He also sold through 
his datary, Jean Baptiste Ferrara, the Cardinal of 
Moden a, ecclesiastical dignitaries, employments, and 
benefices, without troubling himself whether they 
were vacant or not; only in the latter case poison or 
the dagger were employed on the prelate who refused 
to yield his place to him who had bought it." The 
14 



210 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

pope's son, Caesar Borgia, then in the end poisoned 
the Cardinal Ferrara, to secure the immense wealth 
he had accumulated in his office. — "History of the 
Popes;' IL, 157. 

Alexander VI., Roderick Borgia, was one of the 
shrewdest, but most cruel, perfidious, lustful, and 
avaricious of the popes. However, the love of money 
has been a leading trait in many of their lives. The 
learned Bev. Dr. T. O. Summers says on the sale of 
indulgences: "The popes derived very large sums 
from the sale of these indulgences." He says that 
they were a powerful instrument to promote the am- 
bition and avarice of the popes. 

"The love of money is the root of all [kinds of] 
evil." Borne loves money. 

3. We next see her selling orders — i. e., clerical posi- 
tions. 

Arnold, the Bishop of Orleans, France, is reported 
to have said in a speech before his synod: "At Borne 
the balance of justice does not incline but under the 
weight of gold; study is proscribed and ignorance 
crowned." "Platinus relates that in the ninth cent- 
ury the pontificate had become the object of all am- 
bition, the aim of all intrigues, and that it was bought 
with gold or with blood." — "History of the Popes" I., 
274.- 

The Popes John XI. and XII. were both elevated 
to the sovereign pontificate by intrigues and pres- 
ents. Boniface VI. "though he had been driven 
from the diaconate for the crimes of murder and 
adultery," "scattered his gold among the people with 
a bountiful hand," and was crowned with the papal 
tiara, A.D. 896. But he did not long live to enjoy his 



AVARICE. 211 

honors. " Stephen, Bishop of Anaguia, who was also 
intriguing for the chair of St. Peter, caused him to 
be poisoned." The prelates of France accused John 
XV. of " sacrilege, avarice, and simony." This pope, 
through his council, decided that the prelate of 
Prague, who had retired to a monastery, might break 
his monastic vows and return to his diocese, provided 
the faithful would pay to the pope " a good contribu- 
tion." 

" Intrigues, money, and threats procured the elec- 
tion of Theophylactus, nephew of the two preceding 
popes, and the son of Alberic, Count of Tusculum. 
He was enthroned at the age of twelve, under the 
name of Benedict." This wicked pope was driven 
from Rome for his crimes of murder, rape, and rob- 
bery, but he succeeded in selling the papal chair to 
John XX. for fifteen thousand pounds. He then 
drove away Pope John, and they combined to sell the 
pontificate again. /"A rich Roman priest, named 
John Gratian, offered the highest price," and was en- 
throned under the title of Gregory VI. This pope, 
"soon finding himself absolute master in Rome, 
joined cruelty to avarice; he put to death by torture 
the most opulent citizens, for the purpose of confis- 
cating their property. He soon repaired by his ex- 
actions the sacrifices he had been obliged to make in 
order to purchase the tiara." — "History of the Popes," 
L, 330, 331. 

Under Leo IX. a council was held to ferret out the 
crimes of the priests, especially simoniacs. The 
bishops of Rheims, Langres, Constance, Nevers, 
Nantes, and other ecclesiastics either confessed or 
were proved guilty of simony. "The deacon Peter, 



212 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

chief manager of the synod, accused the Bishop of 
Langres of having sold the sacred orders, of having 
borne arms, of having committed adultery and homi- 
cide, of having practiced the shameful vice of sodomy." 

Nicholas II., pope A.D. 1058-61, said with refer- 
ence to* simoniacs: "As to those who have been or- 
dained for money, our clemency permits them to 
preserve the dignities to which they have been pro- 
moted, because the multitude of these ecclesiastics is 
so great that by observing the rigor of the canons with 
regard to them, we should leave almost all the churches 
without priests." — "History of the Popes," L, 354. 

This is a short but telling section in the history of 
Rome and her practice of simony. 

But why add more testimony when Ave have the 
rule as laid down in the tax-list of apostolic chancel- 
lery under Pope John XXII. as follows: "If a man 
wishes to acquire one or more benefices by simony, 
he shall apply to the treasurers of the pope, who will 
sell him this right for a moderate price." — "History 
of the Popes" and Guthrie's "Historical Grammar" 

Now, reader, remember that the Vatican Council de- 
clared the popes infallible, and that we are told that the 
Holy Catholic Church "never needed a reformation." 

But what does the common sense of mankind say 
of a so-called Church selling masses, the body and 
blood of Christ; indulgences, which encouraged the 
actual commission of sin; and the orders and ap- 
pointments of the ministry? And yet she claims to 
be the " Mother and mistress of all Churches," with 
authority to exterminate by fire and sword all who 
rise in rebellion against her execrable doctrines and 
practices! 



AVAEICE. 213 



But the end is not yet. 

4. The Catholic Church sells relics. 

Not satisfied with selling masses, indulgences, and 
ministerial orders, the "Holy Roman Church" sells 
old bones, hairs, pieces of wood, stone, metal, etc., 
under the name of relics. 

Dr. De Sanctis, the converted Jesuit, in his work, 
"Borne, Christian and Papal" describes the origin of 
relics: 

"He (the keeper of these holy relics) told us that, 
as it regarded the ordinary relics, they possessed a 
great quantity of them, for new saints were discov- 
ered every day in the catacombs; but as regards the 
more remarkable relics, there were but a few. 

" I inquired how the pope managed to decide upon 
a skeleton found in the catacombs as being that of a 
saint. 

" ' The pope,' he replied, ' cares little about such 
things; he has confided this business to the vicar- 
cardinal, who in turn leaves it to Father Marchi, 
a Jesuit, who visits the bodies that are disinterred, 
and sends them here when he thinks they belong to 
saints. Here we baptize them, and distribute them 
to the faithful.' 

"'You baptize them!' said I, interrupting him in 
my astonishment; 'you baptize dead bodies!' 

"The canon explained that to baptize meant to 
give them a name. We do not know what these 
corpses are. ' Well, the custodian needs relics of St. 
Patrick, for instance, so this body is named St. Pat- 
rick.'" — Quoted from Rev. John A. Wilson, in "Popular 
Lectures;' 130. 

This is holy Rome digging up some old bones, they 



214 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 



neither know nor care whose, and giving them any 
name needed to supply present deficiency in stock. 
They may be the bones of man or beast, but if the 
pope needs St. Patrick's bones to supply the market, 
why these are St. Patrick's, or St. Paul's, St. Peter's, 
or any other! All this palmed off on poor, deluded 
devotees for the purpose of perpetuating their idola- 
try, and filling the treasuries of avaricious popes and 
priests ! 

For barefaced fraud and unblushing impudence 
this surely takes the palm. 

No wonder some churches contain the same articles 
that are claimed entire by many others. One church 
has the whole of St. Paul's head, we are told, while 
a half-dozen others have pieces. But what is the 
difference? Rome's coffers are filled, and the pope 
rejoices. 

Not to mention the prayers and immortal souls 
bartered by Rome for money, for they are included 
in what has gone before, we come to the last item, 
upon which we will offer a few proofs. 

5. Rome sells kingdoms. 

This will illustrate the chapter on her claim of 
temporal power. We will show that she has bar- 
tered thrones and empires for gold or aggrandizement. 
Her own historian shall be our principal witness. 

Pope Nicholas II. tried at first to expel the Nor- 
mans from Italy. Finding himself unable to do 
*this, he resolved to turn them to his own account. 
He removed the anathema previously promulgated 
against them, and secured their oath of fidelity. They 
"personally engaged to pay the pontiff an annual rev- 
enue of twelve denarii, money of Pa via, for each pair 



AVARICE. 215 



of oxen that worked in his domains. Such was the 
commencement of the kingdom of Naples and Sicily, 
and the origin of the rights the pontiffs claimed over 
them. The Holy See obtained considerable augmen- 
tation in its temporal affairs from the position of the 
Normans, who declared themselves vassals of the 
pope, to prevent the emperor from laying claim to a* 
part of the provinces they had seized, and to put an 
end to the invasions of the neighboring lords, who 
could not declare war against them without exposing 
themselves to the thunders of the Church." — "His- 
tory of the Popes," I.,355. 

Here was temporal dominion sold and maintained 
against other powers for the profit it furnished to the 
papal revenues. 

Of the emperor Charles the Bald we read this 
item: "Charles the Bald, in order to obtain the prin- 
cipal scepter against the hereditary rights of the le- 
gitimate successors of Charlemagne, yielded to the 
pontiffs the sovereignty which the emperors exer- 
cised over Borne and the provinces of the Church, 
and he declared the Holy See to be an independent 
State." 

Thus the pope gained in Borne what he confirmed 
to Charles in the empire, whom he crowned " at the 
tomb of the apostle." The reigning pope was John 
VIII. 

In the midst of a strife between certain disputants 
for the Greek throne, Bope Innocent III., 1198 to 
1216, "who had shortly before been gained to the 
cause of the usurper Alexis, by the large sums which 
had been sent to him and by the promise of recog- 
nizing him as supreme pontiff, refused to give his 



216 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

consent to an expedition which was to hurl that 
prince from his throne." — De Cormenin, I., 460. 

Thus the pope defended the usurper on the throne 
for money, because of his unexampled avarice. 

Now hear the Kev. J. L. Chapman relate some his- 
torical evidence on this line: 

" The Roman See countenanced the dethronement 
of Childeric III., King of France, and crowned Pepin; 
and received from the latter, as a reward, the ex- 
archate of Ravenna, Pentapolis, and twenty-one cit- 
ies and castles. Charlemagne, his son, received his 
crown from the hand of Rome, and expressed his 
gratitude by a liberal gift." 

But what other witness need we introduce when the 
" holy " Roman Catholic Church pretends to swing 
the gates of heaven open on gofden hinges for a cash 
admittance fee? What are her prayers for souls in 
"great distress in the awful flames of purgatory," if 
not toll-gates she has erected just this side of heaven? 
She must pray and sing mass over those who die to 
get them into heaven, and even her priests and popes 
are no exceptions, and there are no free passes: the 
cash must come. The hierarchy at least handles a 
good deal of cash, even though purgatory is a myth. 
Paul says, " To be absent from the body and be pres- 
ent with the Lord;" but Rome stops the soul in pur- 
gatorial flames till the toll is paid. Truly " covet- 
eousness is idolatry," and " the love of money is the 
root of all [kinds of] evil." 



PART II -ROMANISM TO-DAY. 



Her Claims. 



No good government can exist without religion, and there can 
be no religion without an Inquisition, which is wisely designed 
for the protection and promotion of the true faith. — Boston Pilot, 
the bishoji's official journal. 

We have examined the teachings of Roman Cathol- 
ocism briefly and glanced at a few illustrative items 
from her past history. We come now to look a little 
while at Romanism as it is to-day: its tendency, its 
spirit, its aims. We do not hesitate to say that where 
it is not hedged about and restrained by counteract- 
ing influences the Rome of yesterday is the Rome of 
to-day. And this is necessarily so. She is incapable 
of reform. Like a lion, a serpent, a hyena, she may 
be caged, but her nature is the same. .- Some say: 
"No; we do not see her doing now what we read of 
her having done in the past." Certainly not. You 
do not see a caged lion doing the things for which he 
was noted in the jungles. The reason is manifest: 
he cannot. So wdth Rome. She does not repeat her 
past record, because she cannot. The world has 
burst her shackles. Her prisoners have escaped 
from her dungeons. Her victims are released from 
her grasp. 

But the revolution is outside and independent of 
her. An open Bible, an independent press, a repub- 

(217) 



/ 



218 THE DANGEE SIGNAL. 

lican form of government, free speech, the gospel of 
Christ from spirit-empowered pulpits have broken 
the shackles of nations and freed millions from 
Rome's merciless bondage. But the emancipation of 
the slave does not necessarily involve the conversion 
of the master: The two works may be separately 
wrought. The emancipation may transpire and the 
conversion never take place. It is thus in the case 
before us. The nations are largely freed from her 
galling chains; but her conversion — ah! when may we 
expect that? Our answer is, never. Her system is 
irreformable. For proof simply glance at her doc- 
trines. 

1. She claims infallibility. 

Who can reform a Church or pope that claims to 
be incapable of sinning or erring. 

2. She claims to be the only Church. 

No other organization is to be heard or followed, for 
they are all of the devil. They are all corrupt, heret- 
ical in her estimation, and she is to reform them, not 
be reformed by them. 

3. Her pope is the vicar of Christ, God on earth. 

• He has been called "Our Lord God the Pope," 
"God's Vicar-general on earth," "The Oracle of Re- 
ligion," "The Most Holy Father/' etc. ! Who can re- 
form him? The Bible says: "He shows himself that 
he is God." (2 Thess. ii. 4.) 

4. She demands obedience from all. 

She consigns to hell all who reject her authority. 
Her volcanic eruptions pour forth fiery streams of 
fearful curses against all who question her authority, 
or attempt her reformation. 
• 5. Her theory of apostolical succession precludes the 



HEE CLAIMS. 219 



hope of her reformation. To allow any change now- 
would prove that she had not been always pure, and 
the only Church since Christ. Claiming this priestly 
and sacramental succession to have been always in 
her keeping, she will not sacrifice it by acknowledg- 
ing the need of reformation now.* 

6. Denominational reformation is naturally difficult; 
Borne' s peculiarly so. 

Religious teaching is necessarily dogmatic, and 
hence hard to reform. Religious belief is a most dim- 
cult wall to scale. Luther could not reform Rome, 
but he raised up Lutheranism. Wesley could not 
effect his revival in the Established Church, though 
he spent his life trying; Methodism came up glowing 
with life through labor. Carey and Judson could 
create no great missionary transformation of the Old 
Line Baptists, but the Missionary Baptists were 
born of their Heaven-inspired zeal. But Rome is so 

*It does seem strange that any Church should attempt to 
maintain this unscriptural and unsound dogma. " It is as base- 
loss as the fabric of a dream." The Romanists say: " We have it." 
The Episcopalians cry: " No, no ; we only have the true apostolical 
succession." The Baptists rise up gravely on Jordan's banks, and 
say: "You are both wrong: we alone have the true chain that 
reaches back to Christ." Each of these claims to be in possession 
of the wonderful prize, the same identical chain. The whole 
thing is visionary. The only apostolical succession is in individ- 
ual experience of grace. Jesus puts it this way. " Whosoever 
shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is 
my brother, and sister, and mother." (Matt. xii. 50.) This is 
the only succession. No Church organization can claim that 
from any given preacher or priest, every link in the chain back 
to Christ has been sound. But any one can be in the true, script- 
ural, apostolic succession for himself by getting his life in perfect 
harmony with God. This all can have; the other is a myth. 



220 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

cumbersome and dictatorial in her creed, theology, 
and ritual that all others might be reformed by 
labors that would not quicken her pulse-beats in the 
least. 

7. But Iter own writers confess Iter to be the same she 
has ever been. Hear some of them: 

" Undoubtedly it is the intention of the pope to 
possess this country. In this intention he is aided 
by the Jesuits and all the Catholic prelates and 
priests. " — "Brownson's Rev.," May, 1864. 

But you say: " What if he does. He will no longer 
persecute or curse the nations as of yore." Listen 
and decide: "You ask if the pope were lord of this 
land and you were in a minority, what he would do 
to you? That, we say, would entirely depend on cir- 
cumstances. If it would benefit the caiise of Cathol- 
icism, be would tolerate you; if expedient, he would 
imprison, banish you, probably he would even hang 
you. But be assured of one thing: he would never 
tolerate you for the sake of your glorious principles 
of civil and religious liberty." — "Rambler" Catholic 
paper in England, September, 1851. 

Does this sound like reform? Praise God, the 
pope has not got the power in these United States 
yet. But (i eternal vigilance is the price of liberty" 

But Mr. Brownson shall take the witness stand. 
He was indorsed by a special letter in commendation 
of his writings by Pope Pius IX. What he says 5 
therefore, is as from head-quarters; though, as all 
Catholic writings are under the surveillance of -Rome, 
they are all authoritative until condemned. Mr. B. 
says: " What the Church has done, what she has ex- 
pressly or tacitly approved in the past, that is exactly 



HER CLAIMS. 221 



what she will do, expressly or tacitly approve in the 
future, if the same circumstances occur. This may be a 
difficulty, and embarrassing, but it trill not do to shrink 
from it. We are responsible for the past history of 
the Church, in so far as she herself has acted, and to 
attempt to apologize for it by an appeal to the opin- 
ion of the times, or to explain it in conformity with 
the prevailing spirit and theories of non-Catholics in 
our age, is- only to weaken the reverence of the faithful 
for the Church, and yield the victory to our enemies. 
The odium we may incur should not unnerve us. 
There never was a time when Catholicity was not 
odious to the non-Catholic world, and there never 
will come a time when it will not be." — "Review" Jan- 
uary, 1854; quoted from the " Cis- Atlantic Battle" 78. 

Thus from her own high authority we show most 
conclusively that this relentless foe of freedom and 
all people who do not bow to her yoke never expects 
to reform. With, her it is "rule or ruin," and she 
neither asks nor gives quarter. She aims to hold the 
reins of universal empire, or perish in the attempt. 
For one, in the interest of humanity and our holy 
Christianity, to both of which she is the most power- 
ful earthly foe, we prefer that she perish, and allow 
liberty, conscience, and freedom to survive. 

But that the influences of Romanism are as bad 
as ever may be seen by a glance at the countries 
where her power is strongest. Her temporal poWer 
is broken in all nations, but the spirit of the Inquisi- 
tion yet burns in her bosom. Read again the words 
from the Boston Pilot at the head of this chapter. 
She cannot do all she would even in Catholic coun- 
tries. The spirit of Christianity and the march of 



222 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

freedom have greatly curbed her power, but tlie 
withering blight of her poisonous influence yet curses 
many lands. 

We will let Rev. Dr. Leroy M. Vernon testify. He 
has labored as a missionary of the Methodist Church 
in Italy for eighteen years, and is a worthy, reliable, 
competent witness. He spoke in Boston, and the re- 
port is taken from Z ion's Herald, January 15, 1890. 
He said: 

"I come to add my voice, not as a controversialist, 
but as a witness, as one who lived for eighteen years 
in the home and heart of this giant institution. 

"Italy as a nation has been given every favor of 
Providence. She is protected on the north by the 
Alps, laved by the seas, marvelously beautified by 
nature, domed by matchless skies. The capacity and 
genius of her people has been shown by such men as 
Dante, Boccacio, Michael Angelo, Raphael. But the 
Church of Borne has had the almost absolute control 
of this country and people for fifteen centuries. And 
what results has she accomplished? 

"She has deprived the people of the Bible and 
confined religious instruction to the perverted teach- 
ings of the priests of the Church. She has exalted 
tradition on a par with the Scriptures and flooded 
the whole country with grotesque lives of the saints. 
She has garbled even the Decalogue, until one won- 
ders that the thunders of God still sleep./ The 
preaching of the priests, which is heard at scarcely 
any time but Lent, is destitute of practical gospel 
character, and is almost exclusively eulogy of the 
Church and saints, and miracle working images and 
statues.) The voice of no preacher in Italy is heard 



HEE CLAIMS. 223 



outside of his church walls except that of Padre 
Agostino, who is striving to toil with the Liberals. 
Worship is limited to the hearing of the pagan mys- 
tery of mass. The whole influence of the Church of 
Eome is reduced to the task of instilling crude and 
gross superstition. 

"In the relation of Church to State Eome claims 
absolute supremacy, and in Italy attempts to apply 
it to the very letter. For ages the Church kept 
Italy disunited. The index expurgatorius, the con- 
fessional, and the Jesuits were the threefold lash to 
whip reason out of revelation, faith out of man, and 
the true Church out of the world. But in spite of 
the antagonisms of the Church, the unification of 
Italy was accomplished and the king enthroned on 
the Capitoline Hill, terminating at once, we hope for- 
ever, the temporal power of the pope. But to-day 
the voluntary prisoner of the Vatican is the center 
for continual plottings against the life and unity of 
the people. 

"The government has provided public schools and 
made attendance upon them obligatory. At the time 
of their establishment, not many years ago, out of a 
population of twenty-seven millions, seventeen and a 
half millions were unable to read or write. This is 
the land of Caesar and Cicero! Yet the Church has 
resisted these public schools, has substituted her 
parochial schools, invested all others with anathemas 
and threats of excommunication, and still seeks to 
make, not citizens, but Catholics. 

" The Roman Church expends vast moneys for her 
so-called charities — an income of ninety millions of 
francs (about $18,000,000). But a recent commission 



224 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

found that forty-five millions of this money was an- 
nually unaccounted for, and new legislation just en- 
acted has taken the administration of this income out 
of the hands of the clergy. The pope, as the tele- 
gram tells us, is grievously excited at this act of 
spoliation and oppression, and threatens an encyc- 
lical of world- w T ide protest! 

" The State has decreed a civil sanction necessary 
to marriage, but the priests disobey. The Church 
calls civil marriage adultery and the children bas- 
tards. Yet at this very moment no one in Italy has 
any faith in the purity of the Latin priesthood. A 
recital of what I know would make an appalling pict- 
ure. Take Cardinal Antonelli as an illustrious ex- 
ample. In most of the great cities, however, certain 
phases of propriety and decency are observed, but 
in the provinces and mountain villages the tale is on 
the tongue of every housewife. The priests are not 
conservators, but corrupters, of morals. 

" Several millions of Italy go to bed hungry every 
night, yet the lottery is to-day a national institution 
fostered by the Church. From the poorest, from 
their tears and anguish and necessity, eighty million 
francs are wrung annually. 

" The Italians who have thrown off the shackles of 
the Church have become atheists. The sixteen uni- 
versities of Italy are almost absolutely directed by 
atheistic professors. Nearly all the thoughtful men, 
physicians, lawyers, and journalists are in religious in- 
difference or abject atheism. The pope sits in the 
Vatican and writes encyclicals. But he who stood 
yesterday with his feet upon the necks of emperors, 
who to-day in the civilized world so poor as to do him 



HEE CLAIMS. 225 



reverence? Educated Italy despises the Clmrcli of 
Rome. 

"The recent Baltimore Conference in America 
shows the attempt of Rome to ingratiate herself with 
our people. She is playing her cards for power. 
She means to Romanize America. In the face of the 
disasters which Rome has brought upon Italy, may 
God spare America, and help us to pluck out from 
the bosom of our national life the virus of the Roman 
Catholic Church!" 

The Manchester (Eng.) Courier of August 14, 1890, 
says: " It is impossible for any earnest Christian even 
now to live in Rome, which is fast becoming the 
head-quarters of atheism and free thought. The shop 
windows are full of shocking caricatures of the 
Deity, license is allowed for blasphemy, and its in- 
decency has never been surpassed in history, even 
during the French year of 1793." 

This shows us Romanism in Rome. It shows her 
tyranny and corruption in her own home. There 
she has blighted one of the fairest nations of the 
earth. Her progeny there are ignorance, vice, super- 
stition, licentiousness, poverty, fraud, and atheism. 
Another writer says: "Italy is one of the most diffi- 
cult of our mission fields. Work there means beard- 
ing the lion (Leo XIII.) in his den. The Roman 
Church, with its half-truth, is strongly intrenched 
among the superstitious masses of the people, and 
the educated classes, who have broken with Rome, 
are indifferent and atheistic. The attempt to estab- 
lish a pure Christianity among such a people must 
necessarily be slow, but ultimate success is cer- 
tain." 

15 



226 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

But Romanism has not only cursed Italy. Her su- 
perstitions have debased many other nations. Rev. 
C. D. Daniel, a Baptist missionary in South America, 
writing from Juiz De Fora, September 21, 1889, 
speaks as follows. He addresses Rev. Dr. H. A. 
Tupper, editor Foreign Journal: 

"My Dear Brother: Our troubles continue. We are 
opposed, persecuted, and threatened just as if we 
were the very worst enemies of God and man. Gam- 
blers, drunkards, liars, and adulterers are respected 
and move in every circle of society, for they are good 
Romanists; but every true servant of the Lord Jesus 
Christ is hated, shunned, and persecuted just as if he 
were a monster that deserved death at the hands of 
every man, woman, and child whom he meets. In 
this city our cruel persecutors have exhausted their 
spleen, and are giving us a rest; but we know not at 
what moment they may break out anew, for the 
sword of the Spirit has recently pierced the hearts 
of several hardened sinners. . . . I fear our work 
at Barbacena is entirely broken up. Our native 
helper, Brother A. M. Silva, wrote me yesterday that 
a fanatical mob, instigated by the priest, attacked 
his house the night before, and broke out all of his 
windows and completely destroyed all his furniture. 
He saved his life by fleeing with his wife and baby, 
through the back yard. I expected to visit that mis- 
sion at the end of this month, but Brother Silva 
wrote begging me not to go, for he says I would be 
murdered. He says he expects to leave as soon as 
possible, to save his life. Several political papers 
have condemned very severely this savage procedure, 
but I fear this will only exasperate the savage but 



HEE CLAIMS. 227 



faithful devotees of Rome, and cause them to murder 
our brother before he can get away. I have taken 
such steps as I could for his protection, appealing to 
the judge and supreme minister of the empire. 

"Now, my dear brother, you cannot blame me for 
feeling heart-sick when I read in Baptist papers 
articles from Baptist preachers in which such repul- 
sive bosh as the following appears: 'Our Catholic 
brethren.' Our Catholic soul, mind, and body mur- 
derers, they had better say. If those Baptists could 
only see Romanism in this country, where it has 
never been dwarfed by that ' most dangerous of all 
books,' the Holy Bible, but has had every opportu- 
nity to develop itself into a full-fledged demon, with- 
out even finding it necessary to hide its horns, claws, 
and tail, they would never again be guilty of the 
traitorous crime of trying to kiss its cloven foot. Ro- 
manism is an institution so vile, so debased, and so 
debasing that it defies all human description. You 
strike out of the English language the words God, 
Christ, Holy Spirit, Bible, Sabbath, holiness, virtue, 
honor, and truth, and you will have Roruanism in a 
Romish country. They are religious — yes, extremely 
so — but O what mockery, how debasing! A Roman 
Catholic (male) lives and dies in adultery, including 
priests, for virtue is supposed to be a physical im- 
possibility among men. He cheats, defrauds, and de- 
ceives his neighbor and friend whenever it is to his 
interest to do so. No one is supposed to be strictly 
truthful. He violates the Sabbath, drinks, gambles, 
and swears and gratifies all the filthy lusts of fallen 
humanity, yet he is very strict in the observance of 
his religious duties, and with a few hundred dollars 



THE DANGER SIGNAL. 



to pay for masses his soul gets a free entrance into 
the realms of eternal delight. 

" If you will bear with me, I will give you a little 
history that is repeated in this province every year. 
Away out in the interior of this province there is a 
small town by the name of ' Cangouhas,' where there 
is a very miraculous 'idol' called 'Nasso Senhor do 
Bam Fim.' Thousands of the faithful visit this con- 
secrated place every year to worship and pay their 
vows. This miraculous image lives (yes, I suppose 
he lives, for they say his hair and toe-nails grow out 
every night, which are kept cut off to sell to the pil- 
grims) in a church built on the top of a very high 
mound, which is reached by a flight of over a hun- 
dred stone steps. The pilgrims reach their god by 
crawling up these steps; some of them crawl up 
backwards, and last year one good lady did actually 
drag her husband up these steps feet foremost by a 
rope. It was hard work, but by strong faith and per- 
severance she succeeded in accomplishing her pious 
job, thus redeeming her vow and easing her con- 
science. At Cangouhas and also at this place, where 
the pilgrims have to stay all night, there are circuses, 
theaters, bull-fighting, drinking and gambling houses 
established for the entertainment of the pilgrims. It 
seems incredible that any one engaged in a religious 
pilgrimage would think of engaging in such scenes, 
as bull-fighting, yet it is nevertheless true, and that 
on Sundays as well as other days. At this solemn 
annual feast there are always drinking, fighting, blood- 
shed, and death among the pilgrims. Now I wish I 
could give all of those Baptists who are so anxious to 
claim kin with Romanism a special invitation to come 



HEK CLAIMS. 229 



over next year and take part with their Catholic 
brethren in one of these feasts. Perhaps they would 
say: 'Romanism in the United States is not what it 
is in Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and all other 
Romish countries.' This is a mistake, however, for 
Romanism is, and always has been, just the same the 
world over, as all Romanists know and boast, except 
that in our goodly Christian land it has found it nec- 
essary to pull an old rotten sheep-skin over its horns, 
claws, and tail. Examine it closely, and you will find 
that it is Romanism, just as perfect and unimpaired 
by gospel influences as it was in the fifteenth century 
or as it is in this country to-day. It can be nothing 
else but Romanism, for every regenerated man is ex- 
communicated as quick as a devil would be cast out 
of heaven. Give Romanism the reins in the United 
States, and in less than a hundred years any Baptist 
would be burned at the stake for being so impudent as 
to call Romanists brethren. [This seems to be strong- 
ly put, but no doubt oar author thinks so. The im- 
prisonment of Madame Guyon and the persecutions of 
the martyrs seem to justify the assertion. — P.] I do 
wish there could be some means devised to open the 
eyes of all American citizens in regard to Romanism. 
I believe Baptists owe it as a duty to God and the world 
to examine Romanism, and to publish to the world 
the result of their examination. It can be success- 
fully done on the following plan: Appoint and sup- 
port twelve of your most intelligent citizens to visit 
Romish nations, whose only duty shall be to study 
the effects of Romanism upon the physical, mental, 
moral, and spiritual natures of her votaries. Let 
them write out a faithful description of the existing 



230 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

state of affairs in all purely Romish lands, and I tell 
you the picture would be so black and repulsive that 
any Baptist would blush that he ever uttered the 
words ■ Our Catholic brethren' This committee should 
be composed of Baptists, other Protestants, and Ro- 
manists. I would say two Romanists for every anti- 
romanist, so as to close the mouths of all gairjsayers. 
I firmly believe this to be the most effectual means 
to crush Romanism and gain a great victory for 
Christ and his gospel. I remember when a boy, liv- 
ing at Corsicana, Tex., I had an argument with a 
Roman Catholic. I told him that Romanism was the 
most corrupt of all existing institutions; that in Rom- 
ish lands her priests even lived in open adultery, 
each having one or more concubines. He most em- 
phatically denied it, and said that it was a malicious 
falsehood, raised by heretical missionaries. And this 
is the way they meet all charges made against them. 
Now they could not, in this fashion, meet the verdict 
of a jury composed of Roman Catholics and Chris- 
tians." 

We find these living witnesses confirm De Corme- 
nin and other historians of Romanism. They con- 
firm our arguments in which we assume that the sys- 
tem is not — yea, cannot be — reformed. In Protestant 
countries it puts on the garb of innocence, but the 
heart, the seat of character, remains unchanged. 

We will add one other witness to show the spirit 
of Romanism to-day. It is from a Catholic paper, 
The Western Watchman: "To say that Protestant 
Churches have plenty to do to save their own mem- 
bers is ridiculous, as they have neither power nor 
authority to save anybody. God has nothing to do 



HER CLAIMS. 231 



with them, and their spiritual jurisdiction rests on 
the same platform as that upon which Turner socie- 
ties and literary clubs stand. Protestantism was 
founded by apostate and renegade men for unholy 
and unchristian ends, and the triumph of any Prot- 
estant sect in any place is the discomfiture of Chris- 
tianity in that place. Protestantism is a crime 
against God and a scandal to men; but public opin- 
ion interposes a statute of limitation, which says that 
for that crime no man may be made to suffer here." 

Protestantism a crime, to be punished but for the 
protection afforded by public opinion! Again we 
ask: Has Rome reformed? Is she not the same in 
spirit to-day as when Pope Gregory obliged the em- 
peror, Henry IV., "to stand three days in the depth 
of winter, barefoot, at his castle gate, to implore his 
pardon;" as when "Clement declared that God had 
given him all the kingdoms of heaven and earth? 
If any person denied the pope's authority, he was 
burned alive." "They assumed the title of Holiness; 
but some of them were as unholy men as ever lived, 
being full of earthly ambition and stained with atro- 
cious sins." — "Parley's Universal History''' 

She is the same in spirit, simply dressed in more 
fashionable and popular attire. 



Some of Rome's Fruits, 



We wish to specify and briefly discuss four legiti- 
mate results of the popish system. 

I. Ignobance.* 

Christ teaches us that every tree is known by its 
fruit; that a good tree does not bear corrupt fruit, 
nor a corrupt tree good fruit. Catholicism claims to 
be a Christian Church. Is she able to stand the 
Master's test? Christianity is a friend to learning, 
an earnest defender of science, and promoter of 
knowledge. Can Catholicism say as much?f Let 
us look at Catholicism in Catholic countries. We 
have heard Dr. Vernon's testimony relative to the 
pope's influence in Italy. The following is from 
Eev. Scott F. Herschey, Ph.D.: "Italy used to beat 
the world in the days prior to Catholic suppression 
of general intelligence. Under a Catholic regime ig- 
norance prevailed so generally that when that coun- 
try threw off the temporal power of the pope, 17,000,- 
000 out of the 23,000,000 of her population could not 
read. And there are yet 100,000 in the city of Rome 
that can neither read nor write." 

And this is Romanism at Rome. Where she has 
flourished in regal splendor for about fifteen centu- 
ries she has effected such a blight, such a wreck of 
human intelligence that 17 out of 23, or about 74 per 

■ * See Introduction for farther testimony. 
1 1 will discuss Romanism and education in another chapter. 
(232) 



SOME OF ROME'S FRUITS. 233 

cent., caimot even read. And under the very shadow 
of the pope's royal palace " 100,000 can neither read 
nor write." Is this like Christ? is it Christianity? 
No; a thousand times no. Home, the once proud 
mistress of the world; the home of a Cicero, a Ra- 
phael, a Michael Angelo; the seat of wealth, learn- 
ing, -arts, power; captured by popery, claiming to 
represent Christ, love, holiness in the earth, but in- 
stead crushing her power, squandering her wealth, 
blighting her intelligence, debasing her genius; the 
pope sits enthroned in the midst of the wreck he has 
wrought, and like Alexander weeps for other worlds 
to conquer. 

Said Mabillon, a learned French writer of the sev- 
enteenth century: "Not one priest in a thousand in 
Spain could write a common letter of salutation to 
another." Alfred the Great, King of England in the 
ninth century, declared that "he could not find a 
single priest south of the Thames who understood 
the ordinary prayers, or could translate them into 
his mother tongue." This is fully corroborated, and 
examples added by De Cormenin and other Catholic 
writers, besides general historians. 

In his book, '' Romanism, the Danger Ahead," A. 
J. Grover says: 

"It has throttled civilization at a certain stage 
whenever it has had the power, and by its fatal grip 
and sting and poison rendered nations and people 
poor, degraded, and idiotic. Italy, Spain, Ireland, 
Mexico, Lower Canada, sufficiently illustrate its per- 
fect w ork. 

" The people of Spain, held in the clutches of Rome 
for fifteen centuries, have become so poor, ignorant, 



234 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

and ill-fed, that the pestilence feeds and fattens on 
their lives as nowhere else on the globe. Human vi- 
tality and intelligence have probably been brought 
to a lower point in Spain than in any other civilized 
nation on the globe, and the Roman Church is large- 
ly, if not solely, responsible for this national degra- 
dation and ruin." 

"In France, in 1868, one-half of the inhabitants 
could neither read nor write." — Philip S. Moxom. 

In the matter of intelligence France, Italy, Spain, 
Portugal, Ireland, Naples, Belgium, Mexico, and the 
South American States have suffered untold evils 
from Romanism. 

This section is already lengthy, but we cannot well 
forego the use of the ringing words of the eloquent 
Victor Vugo to Catholicism: "You claim the liberty 
to instruct. For some centuries you have held in 
your hands, at your discretion, at your school, under 
your ferule, two great nations — Italy and Spain, 
illustrious among the illustrious. And what have you 
done with them? I am going to tell you. Thanks 
to you, Italy, of which no one can think nor even 
pronounce her name without inexpressible filial grief; 
Italy, that mother of genius and of nations, which has 
diffused over the whole world the most astonishing of 
poetry and art; Italy, which has taught our race to read, 
does not know to-day how to read herself! Yes, Italy 
has, of all the States of Europe, the smallest n amber 
of native inhabitants w T ho are able to read! Spain — 
magnificently endowed Spain," which received from 
the Romans her first civilization, from the Arabians 
her second civilization, from Providence, and in spite 
of you, a world, America — Spain has lost, thanks to 



some of home's fruits. 235 

you, thanks to your brutal yoke, which is a yoke of 
degradation, Spain has lost the secret of her power 
which she received from the Romans, that genius in 
the arts which she received from the Arabs, that 
world which God gave her. And in exchange for all 
that you have made her lose, what has she received? 
She has received the Inquisition! The Inquisition, 
which certain men of a certain party are endeavoring 
to-day to re-establish, with a timidity for which I 
honor them. The Inquisition, which has burned 
upon the funeral pile five millions of men! The In- 
quisition, which exhumed the dead in order to burn 
them as heretic! Witness Urgel and Arnault, Count 
of Forcalquier. The Inquisition, which declares 
children heretics even to the second generation! It 
is true, in order to console Spain for what you have 
taken from her, that you have surnamed what you 
have given her Catholic. Ah! do you know that you 
have drawn from one of the greatest of men that 
dolorous cry which curses you: 'I would much rather 
that Spain should be great than that she should be 
Catholic! ' Ske what you have done with that focus 
of light which you call Italy! You have extinguished 
it. That Colossus which you call Spain, you have 
undermined. The one is in ruins, the other in ashes. 
See what you have done for these great nations!" — 
Quoted from U C is- Atlantic Battle," 268. 

II. Superstition. 

This is closely allied to the preceding. Ignorance 
is said to be the mother of devotion, but this is not 
true. The wisest, the greatest may be truly devo- 
tional. A true devotion to God clarifies the head and 
the judgment with the heart. " The fear of the Lord is 



236 THE DANGEK SIGNAL. 

the beginning of wisdom: a good unci erstanding- have 
all they that do his commandments." (Ps. cxi. 10.) 
But ignorance is the mother of superstition. Borne is 
fully aware of this, and to keep her people in the 
meshes of superstition she must keep them in igno- 
rance. When the light dawns and the rising intelli- 
gence bursts its fetters, the shackles of superstition 
are broken and the soul set free. 

Let us recount some of the most prominent phases 
of superstition, as nurtured by Romanism and prac- 
ticed by her adherents. 

1. Relics. 

What form of superstition more degrading than 
this? Poor people, looking for health, happiness, 
protection, wealth, and even salvation, to a few old 
bones, gathered no telling wdiere or how, which the 
priest with an eye to business had dug up to sell for 
cash. Or pieces of wood, cloth, stone, iron, brass, 
dirt, hair, finger nails, etc. Such things bought and 
preserved in the name of religion! 

2. Holy water, oil, etc. 

The idea of people, made to commune with God, to 
serve him in spirit, redeemed by the precious blood 
of Christ; the idea of these precious blood-bought 
souls being so debased by the priestly instruction and 
Church teaching as to depend on signing with water, 
or greasing with oil, said to be holy because some 
priest has blessed it, is shocking! And must the 
salvation of those for whom Jesus died, and to whom 
he said, " Come unto me . . . and I will give 
you rest," be dependent on the application of a few 
drops of water or oil ? The idea is preposterous. It 
is simply a species of soul-destroying superstition! 



SOME OF ROME'S FRUITS. 237 

3. Transubstaniiation. 

What is more manifest superstition than this 
dogma? Father Chiniquy, the converted priest, says: 

"Every bishop and priest of the cities of New 
York and Boston, Chicago, Montreal, Paris, and Lon- 
don, etc., firmly believes and teaches that he has the 
power to turn all the loaves of their cities, of their 
dioceses — nay, of the whole world — into the body, 
blood, soul, and divinity of our Saviour Jesus Christ. 

"Let Protestants cease to admire poor, deluded 
Roman Catholics who dare the storm and go to 
Church even before the dawn of day. This devotion, 
which so dazzles them, should excite compassion, and 
not admiration; for it is the logical result of the 
most awful spiritual darkness, it is the offspring of 
the greatest imposture the world has ever seen, it is 
the natural consequence of the belief that the priest 
of Rome can create Christ and God by the consecra- 
tion of a wafer, and keep him in a secret chamber. 

" The Egyptian worshiped God under the form of 
crocodiles and calves. The Greeks made their gods 
of marble or of gold. The Hottentots make their 
gods with whalebone, and go far through the storms 
to adore them. The Church of Rome makes her god- 
out of a piece of bread! Is not this idolatry?" — 
"Fifty Years in the Church of Rome" 172, 173. 

4. Absolution. 

Rome teaches that absolution from sin, even 
though performed by a wicked priest, is nevertheless 
a real pardon of sin. This is why in Catholic coun- 
tries, as in Ireland, priests who are drunken, quarrel- 
some, profane, fighting wretches are allowed by their 
poor debased parishioners to horsewhip them. Their 



238 THE DANGEB SIGNAL. 

priest is practically tlieir god, and can do about as 
he pleases. 

Time and space forbid me describing the supersti- 
tions practiced in Roman Catholic countries around 
"holy wells," "the tombs of the saints," images, etc. 
See how they pray to Mary as "Mother of God," the 
saints, and angels, with other like superstitions. 

The following letter from Rev. John H. Eager, 
written from Rome, Italy, and published in the Texas 
Baptist and Herald January 29, 1890, is so well suited 
to this argument that I introduce it, though rather 
long for my space : 

" Several years ago Italy was visited by that dread- 
ful scourge the cholera, and when it reached Naples 
it found a congenial soil and spread like wild-fire, 
carrying off its victims at the fearful rate of nearly 
a thousand a day. The whole city was alarmed, for 
it seemed that a day of dreadful judgment had ar- 
rived. Neapolitans as a class are very religious, but 
their religion is often more pagan than Christian. 
Their ignorance leads to much superstition. They be- 
lieve in charms or amulets, which ttiey nearly always 
wear on their person. Not many Neapolitan children 
will take a sea-bath without a charm around the neck 
to secure them against drowning. They pray to 
saints, and believe like the heathen that they will be 
heard for their much speaking, for the number of 
times they repeat the same prayer. They bow down 
before images and worship them. 

" Naples is divided into sections, and each section 
contains an image, which represents the saint who is 
believed to protect that part of the city. Very few 
men in Naples pass one of these images without tip- 



SOME OF ROME'S FRUITS. 239 

ping their hats, and thousands bow down before them 
to repeat their prayers and to make special requests.. 
It so happened that during the time of the cholera 
one of these images stood in a very clean, healthy 
quarter, which was almost untouched by the plague, 
while another stood in the filthiest and most miser- 
able section of the city, where the people were dying 
by thousands. Prayers and supplications and vows 
were made constantly to the last-named saint, but all 
to no purpose, for the plague was not removed. Fi- 
nally the people decided to call upon the saint of the 
clean quarter, concluding that as his section was un- 
touched by the dreadful disease, he was more power- 
ful than their saint. So they came and prostrated 
themselves before the image, imploring the saint not 
to be partial, but to protect them also. They prayed 
in vain, however, for the cholera continued to rage. 
The people became desperate and angry, and instead 
of supplicating they began to threaten, assuring the 
saint that if he did not stop the cholera within a cer- 
tain time they would carry him down into the very 
midst of the infected district. Still the cholera raged. 
Then as a last resort they told him they would strip 
him of his rich and gorgeous apparel, and put him in 
a dirty little inn, at five cents a day. This threat, I 
am told, was actually put into execution. And still 
the cholera continued its deadly work. Other simi- 
lar cases occurred during those dark days, and many 
a long-neglected image or amulet was brought forth 
from its obscurity to do service, with the hope of ap- 
peasing the angry powers above. There were also 
religious processions of various kinds through the 
streets, the people moaning and praying aloud as they 



240 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

went along. One procession was headed by a priest 
who carried in his hands what they called the heart 
of Jesus, and the. people that followed were crying in 
most piteous tones: 'O heart of Jesus, hear us! O 
heart of Jesus, hear us! Have pity on us and send 
away the cholera!' How one's heart aches when he 
remembers that such things can be done in a Chris- 
tian land, and that men who call themselves Christian 
teachers encourage the people in them! At last the 
cholera ceased, the images were put back into their 
accustomed places, the moaning and praying in the 
streets were no longer heard, and very soon the city 
resumed its accustomed bustle and gayety and world- 
liness of spirit. The danger gone, prayers and vows 
were soon forgotten. 

"Alas! these poor people^ are to be pitied rather 
than blamed; helped and prayed for rather than de- 
nounced. They have been oppressed and neglected 
and deceived for centuries. By nature they are kind, 
humble, and trustful, and by no means stupid. They 
only need instruction and a pure gospel to transform 
them into new creatures, and to make them worthy 
successors of the disciples Paul found in this same 
vicinity when he landed at Puteoli, on his way to 
Rome. Pray for them and for those who are seeking 
to give them the gospel." 

This is baptized idolatry; worse than other idol- 
atry in that it drags clown the holy name of Jesus to 
associate it with such debasing superstition. Other 
forms of idolatry and superstition leave the name of 
Christ undefiled, but Romanism besmirches his 
great name with the filth of her idols! The Lord 
"forgive them, they know not wdiat they do." Pray 
for them, and send them the gospel of God's love. 



SOME OF ROME'S FRUITS. 241 

III. Poverty. 

In all Catholic countries there is want and destitu- 
tion to a greater or less extent among the masses. 
Let the reader contrast the condition of Catholic 
countries, with their priestly absolutions, relics, in- 
dulgences, rosaries, beads, pictures and images of the 
virgin and the saints, and Rome's wafer-god — contrast 
I say, these countries with Protestant countries, where 
an open Bible and a pure gospel prevail. 

In Catholic nations wages are low: "In Malta the 
rate of wages is thirty-seven cents (37) cents a day, 
and it is the same in the Azores, the same in Mexico, 
the same in Ireland, the same in Spain, and the same 
in Portugal. Here are countries differing widely in 
soil, in climate, in arts, in language, in the character 
of their inhabitants, and in their governmental insti- 
tutions, and thousands of miles apart; but accepting 
a common system of religion (Roraanisni) it unifies 
them and causes amongst them substantially the 
same rate of wages everywhere to prevail. And there 
is no country in which the people and government 
are controlled (that is, influenced and domineered) by 
the Catholic Church where the rate of wages exceeds 
half a dollar a day, although in nearly all Protestant 
lands it exceeds this amount." 

"In a comparison of Scotland with Italy every 
natural advantage is in favor of the latter, yet wages 
in Edinburgh are double what they are in Eome. 
What causes the difference? It cannot be in the soil 
or climate, for both these are decidedly in favor of 
Italy. It cannot be in the population, for a people 
who have shown such valor in the field and such a 
talent for government that they conquered and ruled 
16 



242 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

the known world for centuries cannot be naturally 
wanting in the courage and wisdom and enterprise 
necessary for a great people. . . . Ail the ad- 
vantage Scotland has lies in the superiority of the 
Five Points of Calvinism over the decretals and seven 
sacraments of the Catholic Church; and the fruits of 
these two systems constitute the present difference 
between Scotland and Italy. And the very same re- 
sults follow Catholicism elsewhere, and will appear 
when you compare Mexico and South America with 
Canada and the United States." — Rev. T. M. C. Bir- 
mingham, in "National Salvation." 

Writing of Naples, Italy, Rev. John.IT. Eager says: 
"The masses of the people present a sad spectacle 
of ignorance, superstition, and vice. Thousands of 
the men and probably two-thirds of the women can- 
not read. They believe and practice many things 
that remind one far more of a heathen than a Chris- 
tian country. The poor of Naples are very poor. 
They live on almost nothing, go barefooted the year 
round, sleep on the streets, or in damp, dirty little 
holes, often many of them being huddled together 
in the same room like pigs. I have seen a donkey, a 
pig, several chickens, and a whole family all living in 
one room. Though they live on the sea, thousands 
seem to be strangers to the luxury of a bath, except 
in the long summer days when the sea is so inviting 
they cannot keep away from it." 

And this is the once proud and triumphant Italy, 
that even under heathenism ruled the world, but now 
debased, pauperized, ruined by superstitious- popery! 
This description is of Naples, the largest city in Italy, 
having a population of about 600,000. 



some of eome's fruits. 243 

* 
But how could a people be other than poor when 

belonging almost soul and body to the priests who 
serve them only for cash. Money for marrying them, 
money for baptizing them, money for indulgences 
and absolutions, money for anointing them, money 
for burying th'em, and, leaping the boundaries of the 
grave, where all other extortions cease, the priest 
charges money for praying the souls of the dead out 
of purgatory — a place that heathenism invented and 
Rome adopted for the money she could make out of 
it. The charge is generally according to the size of 
the subject's pile, from a sucking-pig of the poor, or 
the widow's only cow, to the thousands from the rich. 
This assertion is not guess-work either; but it is sub- 
stantiated by reliable historians, writers, and con- 
verts from Romanism. 

IV. Immorality. 

This comes of the others. Ignorance, supersti- 
tion, and poverty, combined, very naturally produce 
immorality. 

1. Sabbath desecration. 

Many Catholics attend mass Sunday morning, and 
then spend the balance of the day in drinking, gam- 
bling, fighting, horse-racing, bull and cock fighting, 
etc. God says, " Remember the Sabbath-day to keep 
it holy," but Romanism w T ipes out this commandment 
from the consciences of her people.. A Sabbathless 
people readily forget their Maker and become a god- 
less people. 

2. Drunkenness. 

The wise man said: ""Wine is a mocker, strong 
drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby 
is not wise." (Prov. xx. 1.) Romanism seems to 



244 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

forget this. Only a few days ago* a Catholic priest 
told me there was no harm in drinking wine, but that 
it was not advisable to rise mixed drinks. He thought 
prohibition wrong. It is a noted fact that in this 
country most of the Catholics, even the priests among 
them, drink, while many of them run the saloons 
that sow death and destruction among the joeople. 
Ireland, Mexico and many other Catholic countries 
are cursed with the drink habit; and this land could 
manage the liquor traffic and other evils much better 
but for Romanism. 

S. Dishonesty. 

The theology of Rome actually encourages theft, as 
the following will show: 

"If any one steals small sums at different times, 
either from the same or from different persons, not 
having the intention of stealing large sums, nor of 
causing a great damage, his sin is not mortal; par- 
ticularly if the thief is poor, and if he has the inten- 
tion to give back what he has stolen." 

"If several persons steal from the same master, in 
small quantities, each in such a manner as not to 
commit a mortal sin, though each one knows that all 
these little thefts together cause considerable damage 
to their master, yet no one of them commits a mor- 
tal sin, even when they steal at the same time." — 
Liguori, Dubinin 3, Ques. 11, No. 536, by Chiniquy, 
"Fif. Y'rs, 99 123. 

So Rome justifies a refusal to pay just debts: 

"Though sworn to pay, he may refuse the claim of 
a creditor who falls into heresy or under excommuni- 

* Written in March, 1890. 



SOME OF ROME'S FRUITS. 245 

cation. The debtor's oath implies a tacit condition 
that the creditor, to be entitled to payment, should 
remain in a state in which communication with him 
would be lawful." — Quoted from Bernard by J. L. C. 
in " Cis-Atlantic Battle" 58. 

4. Lying. 

"An oath contrary to the manifest utility of the 
Church is not to be observed." 

"These are to be called perjuries rather than oaths 
which are attempted against ecclesiastical utility." — 
Decret. Greg. IX., Vol. II., 358. Quoted from above 
work, 57. 

Same writer quotes Bailly, in Maynooth class-book: 
" The Church (has) a power of dispensing with vows 
and oaths." — Ibid., in loco. 

This is all confirmed by other reliable authors, be- 
sides the well-known teachings of Romanism in ab- 
solving subjects from their oaths of allegiance to sov- 
ereigns who displease the pope. 

5. Licentiousness. 

Of this former pages give abundant proof from the 
highest kind of authorities. Let a few points more 
suffice. Rev. William Hogan, ex-priest testifies: "The 
Roman Catholics of Albany had, about three years 
previous to my coming among them, three Irish 
priests among them, occasionally preaching, but al- 
ways hearing confessions. ... As soon as I got 
settled in Albany I had of course to attend to the 
duty of auricular confession, and in less than three 
months found that the priests, during the time they 
were there, were the fathers of between sixty and one 
hundred children, besides having debauched many 
who had left the place previous to their confine- 



24:6 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

ment." — "Auricular Confession" 46. Quoted from 
"Bom, the Danger Ahead;' 108. 

Is not Paris Catholic with her 33 per cent, of ille- 
gitimate births; and Brussels with 35 per cent.; 
and Munich with 48 per cent.; and Vienna with 51 
per cent. ; and Ecuador with her 75 per cent. ? 

The confessional, the monastery, the nunnery are 
breeders of the most corrupt forms of licentiousness 
in thousands of instances. 

But we need enumerate no more. It is susceptible 
of demonstration that there is not one of the Ten 
Commandments which has not been readily and con- 
stantly broken by direct authority or tacit approval 
of Romanism. Even the popes themselves have at 
times among them been guilty of every crime known 
to man, as murder, theft, drunkenness, falsehood, 
profanity, simony, sodomy, incest, adultery, idolatry, 
infidelity, atheism, etc. But we do not delight in this 
dark picture; we only paint it to warn the living and 
future generations of the corruptness of the papal 
system. This from the Western Recorder may appro- 
priately close this chapter: 

"The relation of the Roman Catholic Church to 
the welfare of the people is well illustrated in the 
case of Ecuador, South America. In this country 
there is a Catholic church for every one hundred and 
fifty inhabitants, and 10 per cent, of the people are 
priests, monks, or nuns. One-fourth of all the prop- 
erty in the nation is controlled by the bishop. 

"Here then the Roman Catholic Church has full 
sway, and whatever blessings it is capable of confer- 
ring on the people should be very clearly seen. If 
Romanism were what it claims to be, Ecuador would 



SOME OF ROME'S FRUITS. 247 

be a veritable paradise. Yet 75 per cent, of the births 
are illegitimate. There are two hundred and seventy- 
two fast days or feast days in the year. There is not 
a railroad or a stage-coach in the whole country, 
though there are plenty of monasteries. Laborers 
get from $2 to $10 a month. The price is $2.25 for 
carrying on one's back one hundred pounds of freight 
two hundred and eighty-five miles. Freight is car- 
ried on the back, for there is not a wagon in the coun- 
try outside of Guayaquil, nor is there a road over 
which a wagon could pass. Years ago some English 
capitalists began building a railroad, but they met 
such poor encouragement that after laying seventeen 
miles of track they gave it up. No train ever passed 
over that track, and it has been so overgrown with 
tropical vegetation that it would be difficult to trace 
its path. So far as government is concerned, the 
country is in a state of anarchy. The amusements 
of the people are cock-fights and bull-fights, over 
which they gamble. They have no literature." 



Education. 



Man is naturally ignorant. The newborn babe is 
more ignorant and helpless than the newborn dumb 
brute, horse, cow, elephant, etc. But man has the 
capacity for getting knowledge; he can learn. His 
mind is like a barrel: empty at first, but capable of 
holding much when filled. It is the work of educa- 
tion to fill the mind with information from which it 
can draw in every exigence of life. Or a better fig- 
ure is, the mind, like the acorn, holds the germ of 
life, the proper cultivation^ of which may develop 
the giant oak of mental manhood. 

Education is the development of the latent capac- 
ities of the man. In education facts must be fur- 
nished from which the mind can draw as a fund for 
personal development and rational progress. This is 
its sphere. 

Man, made like his Creator, is a trinity, a com- 
pound being of three personages, distinct, yet so 
wonderfully blended and intertwined as to compose 
one triune being. The body, or physical man ; re- 
quires food and raiment of material quality; the soul 
is the affectional, love and devotional, or worshiping 
personage in the trinity of man; the spirit is the 
mental and ruling force in him. 

Now, a true education must have reference to a 
proper care for and development of each of these ele- 
ments or personages in man, for God made them all. 
(248) 



EDUCATION. 249 



The mind is tlie receiving and dispensing agent for 
the supplies of the whole man, the ruling officer in 
the life of this compound being. The mind is to de- 
termine the kinds of food to be used in the nourish- 
ment of these personages. For instance, certain 
kinds of food are poisonous to the body and conse- 
quently destructive to its life. It is the province of 
the mind to sit in judgment on these things and de- 
termine the food for the body; but this cannot be 
done till by education the mind becomes qualified to 
render a safe decision. So, also, the education must 
inform the mind what it can safely feed upon. It 
must select its own nourishment as well as that of the 
body. And it must select the food of the soul. The 
body, the mind, the soul, can alike be dwarfed, poi- 
soned, destroyed by unsound food. This being true, 
education must have reference to the welfare of the 
whole man. Its province is to enable one to do the 
best thing possible under his surroundings and 
circumstances for the good of his whole being. 
Education should prepare its possessor to thrive in 
material, temporal things, that his body may be 
properly developed, fed, sheltered, and clothed. It 
must develop his mind that it may grapple with the 
problems of life, become familiar with the deep 
things of science, and bring into his service the hid- 
den but mighty forces of nature. A true education 
trains the soul in a knowledge of its Maker, its duties, 
and its destiny. By it the soul must learn of the 
true God, and be shown the path of virtue, goodness, 
truth, and love; the path that leads to God, to holi- 
ness here and heaven hereafter. 

In our last chapter we found the influence of Bom- 



250 THE DANGEB SIGNAL. 

ish teachings to be against man's best interest in all 
these things. It reduces the body to poverty, want, 
and squalor; the mind to ignorance and superstition; 
the soul to idolatry and consequent immorality. If 
these effects follow Romish, teachings, which we have 
clearly shown, the conclusion is forced upon us that 
Romanism so debases man that she is not competent to 
be his instructor. A false education is more danger-' 
ous than no education. Rome's teachings produce a 
false education. Therefore, education through Rom- 
ish teachings is calculated to do more harm than 
good. This is especially illustrated in Italy. She 
was once a noble, powerful nation, a nation of 
wealth, learning, great armies, and great men. But 
by the influence of papal teaching she has lost her 
glory and her power, is one of the most ignorant and 
superstitious, degraded, poor, and corrupt of the 
nations. 

We will now consider briefly the subject of schools, ' 
and not try to enlarge upon all the lines and effects 
of education as we have just suggested them. 
Schools must deal primarily in mental drill, but it 
must be on the basis ol sound moral principles, and 
be calculated to make intelligent, robust men and 
women, competent to think, reason, plan, and care for 
themselves. People must be so educated that they 
can care for their bodies on earth, soar among the 
clouds — yea, visit the other worlds by their spirit or 
mind force, and in soul be prepared to "look through 
nature up to nature's God." The mind, the soul, the 
body must be made strong and free and good, that 
we may be happy here and reach the home of the 
good hereafter. 



EDUCATION. 251 



- But Romanism opposes popular education and com- 
mon schools, preferring to fetter the mind, enslave 
the soul, and utilize the whole man for her own ag- 
grandizement. In proof let her own authorities, 
popes, councils, cardinals, bishops, editors, priests, 
speak their mind. Many of our witnesses speak with 
special reference to these United States. "He that 
hath ears to hear let him hear." 

The Rev. C. Chiniquy when in the priesthood in 
Canada labored to build up the schools among his 
people, and found much opposition from the priests. 
Among others who stood against his work was the 
Grand Vicar Demars. Rev. Mr. Chiniquy asked 
him: "By what right (do) you oppose my plans for 
educating the children?" 

"I hope, Mr. Chiniquy," he answered, "that you do 
not mean to say that I am the enemy of education; 
for I would answer you that this is the first house of 
education on this continent, and that I was at its head 
before you were born. I hope that I have the right to 
believe and say that the old Superior of the Seminary 
of Quebec understands as well as the young curate 
of Beaufort the advantage of a good education. But 
I will repeat to you what I said to Mr. Des Rbussell : 
that it is a great mistake to introduce such a general 
system of education as you want to do in Beaufort. 
Let every parish have its well-educated notary, doc- 
tor, merchants, and a few others to do the public 
business; that is enough. Our parishes of Canada 
are models of peace and harmony under the direction 
of their good curates, but they will become unman- 
ageably the very day your system of education 
spreads abroad; for then all the bad propensities of 



252 THE DANGER SIGNAL, 

the heart will be developed with an irresistible force. 
Besides, yon know that since the conquest of Canada 
by Protestant England, the Protestants are waiting for 
their opportunity to spread the Bible among our people. 
[My italics. Remember the words underscored. — P.] 
The only barrier we can oppose to that danger is to 
have in the future, as in the past, only a very limited 
number of our people who can read or write. For 
as soon as the common people are able to read, they 
will, like Adam and Eve ; taste the forbidden fruit; 
they will read the Bible, turn Protestant, and be lost 
for time and eternity.'" — "Fifty Years in the Church 
of Borne;' 379. 

Now, remember that this was one Catholic priest 
speaking to another, and it perhaps never would have 
reached the outside world but for the conversion of 
him to whom it was spoken. It is therefore the 
strongest kind of testimony, and it is from a high 
source — an educator. He opposed the education of 
the " common people" lest they "read the Bible, and 
turn Protestant." A very probable result. No book 
is so dangerous to Romanism as the Bible; hence her 
members are all pledged not to receive the Script- 
ures except as the Church interprets them: nor "will 
I ever take and interpret them otherwise than ac- 
cording to the unanimous consent of the Fathers." 
And this "unanimous consent" is about as easy to 
get as to turn the moon into cheese. 

But I am told that Catholics build schools every- 
where they can. Yes, to meet the inevitable. The 
people will send their children to school, and the 
" common people" will learn the Bible unless Rome 
can hedge it about. So she builds schools in this 



EDUCATION. 253 



country to hold her own people and gain Protestants. 
Her schools are propagating agencies for anti-Bible 
unanimous-consent-traditions-of-the-Fathers heresy. 

The abovfe author (Mr. Chiniquy) says: 

" When I was in the Church of Rome, we often 
spoke of the necessity of making superhuman efforts 
to attract young Protestants into our colleges and 
nunneries, as the shortest and only means of ruling 
the world before long. And as the mother has in her 
hands, still more than the father, the destiny of the 
family and of the world, we were determined to sac- 
rifice every thing in order to build nunneries all over 
the land, where the young girls, the future mothers 
of our country, would be molded in our hands and 
educated according to our views." (Page 88.) 

Thus you have the clew to a prominent fact. Any 
intelligent reader knows something of the dense 
ignorance of the people in Catholic countries, proofs 
of which we have already given, and yet, strange 
enough, Rome is building schools all over this coun- 
try. Why does she not educate the poor unfortunates 
of Italy, Spain, Ireland, Mexico, and other countries 
under her influence? Plain enough: she has them 
in her clutches, but this country must be taken by 
stratagem. Owing to the popularity of education in 
this country, schools are her best propagating agency. 
She is not working for the enlightenment of the peo- 
ple, else she would spend her strength more on her 
own people. 

But Protestants, when they send to Eomish schools, 
sometimes exact a promise that their children shall 
not be proselyted. But it is utterly worthless when 
made. 



254 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

Mr. Leprohon, Superior of the College of Nicolet, 
Canada, where Mr. Chiniquy was educated, promised 
a Protestant gentleman not to interfere with the re- 
ligion of his son. He, however, tried to •gain him to 
Eomanism, giving as his defense: " When I promised 
Judge Pike that the religious convictions of his child 
should be respected, and that I would not do any 
thing to change his faith, I did promise the easiest 
thing in the world, since I promised not to meddle 
with a thing which has no existence." (Page 87. ) 

The priest's idea is that Protestantism is no relig- 
ion, and hence the Protestant's religion has no existence. 

Mr. Wesley says: " These principles, openly avowed 
by their forefathers, of priestly absolution, papal in- 
dulgences, and no faith to be kept with heretics, have 
never been openly and authoritatively disavowed even 
unto this day. And until they are, a Poman Catho- 
lic consistent with his principles cannot be trusted 
by a Protestant." I underscored "no faith to be 
kept with heretics" because the principle runs all 
through Komish teachings. 

Eomanism is an uncompromising foe to our public 
school system. She must control the schools in her 
own interest or destroy them — which is on the prin- 
ciple of "rule or ruin." Pope Pius IX. said: 

"The Catholic Church has a right to interfere in 
the discipline of the public schools, and in the choice 
of the teachers for those schools." And again he 
says " that public schools open to all children for the 
education of the young should be under the control 
of the Roman Catholic Church, should not be subject 
to the civil power, nor made to conform to the opin- 
ions of the age." Yet again: "Catholics cannot ap- 



EDUCATION. 255 



prove of a system of educating youth which is uncon- 
nected with the Catholic faith and power of the 
Church."— Syllabus 1S64, Arts. 45, 47, 48. 

The following will corroborate what we have said. 
It is from Cardinal Antonelli, who was verily "the 
power behind the throne." To Mr. Dexter A. Haw- 
kins, who, some years ago, investigated under a com- 
mission the condition of the public schools in the 
papal States, the cardinal said he "thought it better 
that the children should grow up in ignorance than 
to be educated in such a system of schools as the 
State of Massachusetts supported; that the essential 
part of the education of the people was the Catechism; 
and while the arithmetic and geography, reading 
and writing, and other similar studies might be use- 
ful, they were not essential." 

The cardinal is followed by Archbishop Will- 
iams, of Boston, who "considered himself insulted 
by the bare suspicion" that he would sustain the 
rights of Catholic parents to. absolution against a 
priest who refused it because they sent their children 
to a public school. Bishop Gilmore, of Cleveland, 
concurs with the archbishop in this decision. Bishop 
Baltes, of Alton, calls public schools ^seminaries of 
infidelity, and as such most fruitful sources of im- 
morality." Priest Walker said in St. Lawrence 
Catholic Church, Eighty-fourth Street, New York, 
March 14, 1875: "The public schools are nurseries of 
vice. They are godless schools, and they who send 
their children to them cannot expect the mercy of God. 
. . . I would as soon administer the sacraments to 
a dog as to such Catholics." 

Is not this " rule or ruin " with a vengeance? The 



256 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

priests teach, the people they can never be saved 
without the sacraments and absolution; they then re- 
fuse these essentials to all Catholics who send their 
children to public schools, thus heartlessly consign- 
ing to perdition all the patrons of public schools. 
Here we have pope, cardinal, archbishop, bishop, 
priest — all condemning our common schools in severe 
terms. 

We will add the testimony of a council: 

"The archbishop of Quebec says: 'Our Fifth 
Council forbids Catholic parents to patronize Protest- 
ant godless schools; it commands to refuse absolution 
to parents who, being warned, persist in exposing 
their children to this great danger.' " — See "Christian 
versus Godless Schools" 41. 

We will now have the testimonies of some of our 
Catholic writers and editors: 

The Catholic Telegraph, of Cincinnati, says: "The 
secular school is a social cancer presaging the death 
of national morality. . . . The sooner it is de- 
stroyed the better; it will be a glorious day for 
Catholics in this country when under the blows of 
justice (?) and morality (?) our school system will 
be shivered to pieces." 

The Freeman's Journal of December 11, 1869, ex- 
claims: "Let the public school system go to where it 
came from — the devil." 

The Catholic World, January, 1870, says: "We are 
opposed to the common schools as they are, because 
our Church condemns them." The same magazine 
for April, 1871, says: "We do not indeed prize so 
highly as some of our countrymen appear to do the 
simple ability to read, WTite, and cipher. . . . 



EDUCATION. 257 



The best ordered and administered State is that in 
which the few are well-educated and lead, and the 
many are trained to obedience, are willing to be 
directed, content to follow, and do not aspire to be 
leaders. . . . We believe the peasantry in old 
Catholic countries two centuries ago were better edu- 
cated, although for the most part unable to read or 
write, than are the great body of the American people 
to-day." Thus Father Hecker echoes the sentiments 
of Cardinal Antonelli, and would have the public 
school give place to the reign of the "dark ages." 

We have drawn some of these quotations from 
tracts issued by the "Committee of One Hundred," 
Boston. Persons seeking light should send them or- 
ders. These references, however, are corroborated 
by other writers. 

Thus we see Borne arrayed in direct, uncompromis- 
ing hostility to the system of education adopted by 
the free and liberty-loving citizens of this enlightened 
Christian republic. Even here in the United States 
of America, the home of light, intelligence, and free- 
dom, our institutions are to be denounced and our 
citizens bow to the yoke of a foreign despot, or else 
be consigned to hell by an idolatrous, money-loving, 
imported priesthood, many of whom are wine-soaked, 
licentious tricksters. 

For further proof of Bome's aim to capture this 
nation and run its schools in the interest of popery 
see the following declaration of principles adopted by 
a mass-meeting of Boman Catholics in Milwaukee on 
May 27: 

"We, the members of the first State Convention of 
German Catholics of Wisconsin, consider it our higli- 
17 



258 THE DANGEB SIGNAL. 

est and most sacred duty to assure the father of all 
the Catholics of Christendom, his Holiness Pope Leo 
XIXL, of our unconditional submission to his fatherly 
and loving care. 

"Together with this, our humble submission, we 
express our most ardent -wish that the so just and 
reasonable demand of the Holy Father and of all 
Christendom, the patrimony of St. Peter or the an- 
nexed Papal State, may, in accord wth the all- wise 
guidance of God, be returned during the life-time of 
his holiness to religious heirs 

"Furthermore, as we consider the maintenance of 
the above rights absolutely dependent upon the edu- 
cation of our children in our own schools, we demand 
this privilege, and shall, independent of all other party 
political interests, join at the polls those citizens who 
are of the same opinion concerning Church schools, 
so that in the struggle with our oppressors we may 
be more sure of victory, and maintain for our people 
Christian principles." 

Priest Capel said: " The time is not far away when 
the Eoman Catholics, at the order of the pope, will 
refuse to pay their school-tax, and will send bullets 
to the breasts of the government agents, rather than 
pay it." " The order can come from Rome any clay. 
It will come as quickly as the click of the trigger, 
and it will be obeyed, of course, as coming from God 
Almighty himself." 

Now, having found the animus of Komanism to- 
ward the public schools, and her unflagging determi- 
nation to supplant them with her parochial schools, 
it is in place to contrast the fruits of the two systems. 

" Mr. Dexter A. Hawkins, of New York, has shown 



EDUCATION. 259 



from the United States census of 1870 the compara- 
tive number of illiterates, paupers, and criminals, to 
every 10,000 inhabitants, produced respectively by the 
Koman Catholic parochial school, the public schools 
in twenty-one States, and the public schools in Mas- 
sachusetts. The following table is significant, to say 
the least: 

"To every 10,000 inhabitants 

Illiterates. Paupers, Criminals. 
Rom. Cath. schools produced . . 1,400 410 160 

Pub. schools of 21 States 350 170 75 

Pub. schools of Massachusetts . 71 49 11 

"In the six New England States, in 1870, only 7 per 
cent, of the inhabitants above ten years of age were un- 
able to read and write; yet this 7 per cent, produced 
80 per cent, of the criminals — that is, the proportion 
of criminal illiterates to criminal literates was as 53 
to 1. This fact sufficiently vindicates the moral effect 
of the New England system of public education 
against Cardinal Antonelli's implied charge. 

"In the State of New York, in 1880, the illiterates 
produced eight times their proportion of the crimi- 
nals in that State. In the city of New York, in 1870, 
among the illiterates one crime was committed for ev- 
ery three persons; while among those who had received 
a common school training, even as far as the elementary 
branches, there was only one crime for every twenty- 
seven persons — that is, the ignorant classes in that 
city produced nine times as many criminals as they 
would have produced if they had been educated in 
the common schools. 

" One-thirtieth of the population of Pennsylvania, 
in the years 1879 and 1880, were illiterate. That one- 



260 THE DANGEK SIGNAL. 



thirtieth produced one-third of all the crime, or four- 
teen times more than its numerical proportion." 

"The Board of Charities for the State of New 
York, in the report for 1877, give the following sig- 
nificant facts: ' The total number of paupers exam- 
ined over sixteen years of age, exclusive of unteach- 
able idiots, was 9,855. Of these, 6,937, or more than 
70 per cent, were substantially illiterate; and of this 
number, 3,106 could neither read nor write, and 1,447 
could read only.' 

" In 1870 a special investigation was made in fifteen 
States, of 7,398 inmates of alms-houses and infirma- 
ries. Of these, 4,327, or nearly 59 per cent, could 
not read and write; while in those fifteen States the 
average percentage of illiterates was only 6 per cent. 
of the whole population. From this 6 per cent, came 
that 59 per cent, of paupers. 

"Similar results are obtainable from the census of 
almost every country in Europe or America. It 
seems to be well established that, even under our 
present industrial system, an illiterate person is from 
twenty to thirty times as liable to become a pauper 
and an expense to the community as one who has 
received a common school education." — P. S. Moxom, 
"Amer. Com. Schools vs. Sect. Parochial Schools" Bos- 
ton. 

Here we see the great benefit of our common school 
system of education. While it has no regenerating 
force, and while in too many cases it has been dam- 
aged in its moral results by pandering to infidel and 
Catholic sentiment in excluding the Bible, yet the 
system trains the mind to independence, and thus 
largely preserves from crime and pauperism. 



EDUCATION. 261 







In some States the people have foolishly listened 
to the complaints of Romanists and infidels against 
the Bible in the public schools, and have ruled the 
Book of God out as sectarian. This is an insult to 
God, religion, morality, and the good sense of an in- 
telligent self-respecting people. Romanists are de- 
termined to fight our system of government and edu- 
cation. If we use the Bible in the schools, they call 
them sectarian; if we exclude the Bible, they call them 
godless. But they oppose the schools any way un- 
less they have control of them. 

Hear the Freeman's Journal, of November 20, 1869: 
"If the [Roman] Catholic translation of the books 
of the Holy Writ which is to be found in the houses 
of all of our better educated [Roman] Catholics, 
were [prepared for school uses and appointed] to be 
read in all the public schools, this would not in any 
substantial k degree lessen the objection we [Roman] 
Catholics have to letting Catholic children attend the 
public schools." 

This is candid. Now what is to be thought of those 
cowardly Protestants who consent for the Bible to be 
excluded from our schools at the demand of the pope 
and Jesuits? All they care for is to break down our 
schools, our government, and our religion. 

Horace Greeley sensibly said : " The great body of 
those who seek to drive the Bible out of our schools 
will not be satisfied after they have driven it put. 
. . . If we give up the Bible, we only weaken our 
common school system, . . . while we fail to con- 
ciliate its enemies and only excite them to new and 
inadmissible exactions." 

The Catholic Cardinal Wiseman is quoted as say- 



262 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

ing of the Bible: "It is the school-boy's task-book; 
it is the jailer's present; it is the drunkard's pawn-, 
pledge; it is the dotard's text-book; it is the irrev- 
erent jester's butt;* it is the fanatic's justification 
for every vice, blasphemy, and profaneness which he 
commits. If, therefore, we be asked why we do not 
give the Bible indifferently to all, and the shutting up 
(as it is called) of God's Word be disdainfully thrown 
in our face, we will not seek to elude the question, or 
to meet the taunt with a denial, or attempt to prove 
that our principles on this subject are not antago- 
nistic to those of Protestants. They are antagonistic, 
and we glory in avowing it. The experiment has 
been tried on a great scale of what the indiscriminate 
reading of the Bible will make a people. It has 
transformed a mild and promising race into a pack 
of lazy, immoral infidels." 

Now, my readers, shall such infidel and senseless ti- 
rades as this drive the Holy Bible from our schools? 
And shall the system that produces and elevates to 
one of its highest positions a man who will give ut- 
terance to the language above — I say, shall this sys- 
tem browbeat our public schools, our government, 
and our Churches, and take control of the education 
of our children? If so, where will we land within a 
hundred years? See Mexico, Italy, Spain, Brazil, 
Ecuador, etc. 

Contrast our country, free, happy, strong, flourish- 
ing in peace, abounding in plenty; contrast it with 
Catholic countries, where want, wretchedness, strife, 
and pauperism abound. Why the difference? First, 

* It seems so in this particular case. — P. 



EDUCATION. 263 



because here we have an open Bible, un trammeled in 
its Heaven-sent mission for bringing man up to a 
knowledge of God; and the Holy Word is unfolded 
to the people by a living ministry who dare not as- 
sume the divine prerogative of forgiving sin; but 
who point to Jesus as the friend of sinners, the only 
hope of the lost; Jesus, who is to be reached by the 
penitent without the intervention of the Virgin, saints, 
angels, or priests, but by the merits of his own 
blood. Next to the Scriptures, with a pure, living 
gospel, we have our system of general education un- 
fettered by mousing nuns, mumbling priests, Romish 
superstitions, and papal intriguing. And this educa- 
tion is strengthened and assisted by free speech and 
an unhampered press. 

In view of these things, well may every American 
citizen look with suspicion upon the Romish system 
when he finds her undermining and foreignizing our 
civilization, setting her seal upon our country's press, 
proscribing the Bible, interdicting free speech, and 
taking charge of our schools and school funds, to run 
her system of education that has already wrapped 
many nations and millions of people in the densest 
darkness that has ever fallen upon civilization. 



Education (Continued). 



This is a subject that grows upon us. It is a mat- 
ter of consequence to all true Americans. If the old 
man on the Tiber ever rules this land, it will be at- 
tributable largely to the success of Jesuitical schemers 
in supplanting our system of education by Romish 
parochial schools. They are bending their energies 
in this direction. 

Let us lift the veil and for a few minutes look in 
upon Rome's intrigues against our schools. She 
tried to catch Boston, and with deep-laid plans she 
had w r ell-nigh carried the day, when "the Hub City" 
aroused from her slumbers just in time to save her 
schools. A ScIiqoI Board had been selected that ma- 
nipulated every thing — books, teachers, positions — in 
the interest of Rome. A Catholic priest was chief 
meddler. We will let the " Committee of One Hun- 
dred," organized by the people in self-defense, tell the 
story: 

"This intermeddling by a Romish priest, with the 
public schools, the citizens of Boston felt they must 
rebuke, and through the press and in public meetings 
they freely expressed their indignation. The most 
memorable meetings were those held on the evening 
of July 11, in Faneuil Hall and Tremont Temple. 
Never did Boston witness such a spectacle as the 
grand old 'Cradle of Liberty ' presented on that night. 
The historic structure was packed to its utmost ca- 
(264) 



EDUCATION ( CONTINUED ) . 265 

pacity, and a finer audience, or a more patriotic and 
enthusiastic one, never gathered beneath a roof and 
as the speakers one after the other avowed the deter- 
mination of the people to defend at all hazards the 
public schools against Jesuitical intrigue, the famous 
old building fairly rocked with successive tempests 
of applause. 

" On this night, at Faneuil Hall and Tremont Tem- 
ple, the initiative steps were taken toward forming 
the Committee of One Hundred. On entering upon 
its work, the committee — composed of leading citizens 
of Boston, clergymen and laymen — made some im- 
portant discoveries and soon realized the magnitude 
as w^ell as the importance of the work they had un- 
dertaken. They found, for instance, the municipal 
government in the control of the Roman. Catholics; 
from the mayor down the hand of the priest was seen 
and his influence felt. The city's charitable institu- 
tions, under a Board of Directors, were being rapidly 
Romanized. In some the sacred desk w T as displaced 
by the confessional box, and the Bible removed to 
make way for an image of the Virgin. The School 
Committee of twenty-four members, having in charge 
all the educational interests of the city, the Primary 
and the Grammar, the High Latin and Normal 
Schools, and composed of twelve Catholics, eleven 
Protestants, and one Jew, was practically run in the 
interest of Eomanism. For years the text-books had 
been submitted to the examination of Jesuit priests, 
and until they were mutilated to suit these gentlemen 
they could not be used; while- other books, as for in- 
stance Dickens's 'Child's History of England' and 
Miss Thompson's 'History of England,' were from 



266 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

time to time quietly removed from the schools be- 
cause they contained things displeasing to these 
Romish inquisitors. Steadily and persistently com- 
petent and experienced Protestant teachers were* dis- 
missed and their places filled by incompetent Eonian 
. Catholic teachers. This was easily done, as the 
standing committee of the School Board on nomina- 
tions was composed of four Roxnan Catholics and one 
Protestant; and when nominations were made to the 
Board, all the Roman Catholic members were on hand 
to vote approval, while several of the Protestant mem- 
bers were invariably absent; and the masters to whose 
schools the incompetents were appointed were given 
to understand that if they cared aught for their places 
and their salaries they had better keep still and say 
nothing. 

"In some instances priests would warn teachers 
not to mark Eoman Catholic children late or absent 
who were off attending mass, otherwise they would 
pay for it; while in others a priest would go to a 
school during school-hours, and have leave given to 
him to take out Roman Catholic scholars that they 
might attend some mission service in a Catholic 
church. Almost all the division committees having 
in charge the public schools had on them Catholic 
majorities, while the other standing committees were 
largely formed in the same* interest; on some of the 
most important committees all the members were 
Catholics." 

So much for Rome in Boston. Now let us see how 
she deals with us elsewhere. 

" Between the years 1869-71, inclusive, the Roman 
hierarchy (misnamed Church) received out of the 



EDUCATION (CONTINUED). 267 

public treasury in New York $1,369,389. I could 
give the items if I had the space. In the last fifteen 
years it has received upward of 812,000,000. Prob- 
ably more than nine-tenths of this money was paid 
into the public treasury by non-Eomanists. But 
with the control of every third voter, Bishop Hughes, 
in his life-time, with the aid of his priests, could 
easily induce political demagogues of either party to 
appropriate the public moneys to the use of Roman 
schools, convents, churches, and so-called asylums." 

" Bomanism insists upon having its share of school 
money with which to support its own schools. Sup- 
pose every Protestant sect should make the same 
claim? And all have the same right to a division of 
the school fund that Borne has. If such claims were 
set up and conceded, the only practical way out of 
the difficulty would be to abolish the common schools 
and allow each sect to establish and maintain * its 
own sectarian schools. This is the only outcome if 
Boman demands are to be conceded. And for Bo- 
man votes, our demagogue politicians are willing to 
do almost any thing. In certain localities these con- 
cessions have been already made by the politicians." 
— A. J. Grover, in "Rom. the Danger Ahead " pj). 51, 97. 

Only look at Borne as an educator in Catholic 
countries; and notice the results of her schools, as 
contrasted with our public schools, in the figures we 
have given ; and consider her chicanery in New York 
and Boston; and remember that these are her meth- 



* He means at public expense, out of the treasury. All have 
the right to run their own schools at their own cost. Especially 
for higher education it may be desirable. 



268 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

ods everywhere. See how she has meddled with the 
Indian affairs. The government expended* in 1887 
$308,299.98 for education of the Indians, and the 
Jesuits by lobbying " secured $168,959.15, while all 
the other denominations got but $139,340.83; when 
for contract day-schools, the Catholics received $7,- 
632.92, and all others but $2,21435. When such is the. 
condition of things, surely it is high time to awake! 
Remember Rome's recent opposition to Dr. Dorches- 
ter and Mr. Morgan as Superintendent and Commis- 
sioner of Indian Affairs. Think of her bitter opposi- 
tion to our common school system; and do not forget 
her willingness to keep what she calls the "common 
people " in ignorance, lest they learn to " read the 
Bible and turn Protestant." Do we, in full view of 
these things, propose to turn over the education of 
the youth to Rome's proselyting parochial schools? 

Dr. H. C. Mabie has well said: 

" The Romanists, in joining w^ith the infidels of the 
country, have outwitted the Christian sentiment re- 
specting the recognition of God in the schools. They 
have said first: 'Your Bible is a sectarian Bible, 
therefore you must take it from the schools for the 
sake of Catholic conscience ' We have weakly con- 
sented. Now they say: 'Your schools are atheistic, 
hence we must set up parochial schools to save our 
children from atheism.' The Bible, in so far as it 
teaches that God is before all things, surely is not 
a sectarian Bible any more than God or the natu- 
ral conscience is sectarian." — "Bom. in Four Chap- 
ters;' 21. 

Thus she opposes every step of national, civil, and 
religious progress. She undermines our schools, 



EDUCATION (CONTINUED). 269 

appropriates our public funds, bribes our law-mak- 
ers and executors where possible, manipulates con- 
scienceless politicians, hates the Bible, and by every 
means in her power she would capture our country 
and turn us over soul and body to the pope. Then, 
if we should fail to walk just.as she might choose, 
she would vent her spleen in excommunicating us, 
and, loading us with all the most horrid curses in her 
vocabulary, she would coolly consign us soul and body 
to the torments of perdition. 

The people of this Protestant country believe in 
education. They need — yea, must have — an educa- 
tion. Our principles and institutions, both civil and 
religious, demand culture. With us, as Protestants, all 
things here are for man, and man is for God. Hence 
we build our civilization on the Bible. Our very coin 
bears the nation's motto: "In God we trust." 

Under this order of things we need an educated 
people, capable of self-government. We must read 
the Bible and be governed by its principles. With 
Romanism it is different. The pope is the vicegerent 
of God. He is the highest authority. Government 
is vested in him. He rules the priests, and they rule 
the people. Education is a regular breakwater to 
Romish progress. 

Nothing is so dangerous to papal authority as true, 
diversified culture, especially when the Bible is a 
text-book. The priest's authority must be main- 
tained. His voice must be received as the voice of 
God. Ignorance is the mother of superstition. "If 
the common people are educated, they w r ill read the 
Bible, turn Protestants, and be lost" to Romanism. 
No longer can the ghostly authority of priestly power 



270 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

be preserved. Hence in Romish lands the people 
are kept in mediaeval darkness. But in this goodly 
land it cannot be so. Here the spirit of inquiry and 
of education is abroad. So the pope and his allies 
would muzzle the schools of the land and overrun us 
with the no-Protestant-heresy, no-Bible parochial 
. schools. 

The following pointed remarks are extracts from 
an able article contrasting Romanism and Protestant- 
ism in their relation to popular education. It is en- 
titled, "Protestantism and popular Education," and 
is from the pen of Prof. F. V. N. Painter, of Virginia: 

"The general use of the Bible encouraged by 
Protestantism renders popular education a necessity. 
. . . Religion is not a thing apart from our daily 
labors, but a spirit sanctifying our whole life. Prot- 
estantism takes away the stigma of worldliness from 
the duties of secular government and domestic life, 
which are regarded as divine institutions. To fulfill 
the duties of the rich human life, as contemplated by 
Protestantism, intelligence becomes a necessity. No 
class should be left in ignorance. Education is an 
interest of the State no less than of the Church. Its 
aim should be to fit the young for useful living in 
every right relation - 

"In Protestantism nature is restored to its rights. 
Under Romanism, which unduly magnifies a system 
of dogmas and inculcates a one-sided religious life, 
the physical universe is depreciated. Protestantism 
looks upon the present world as a field for serving 
God in the exercise of our native powers and in the 
discharge of our natural duties. The wondrous 
beauty of nature is appreciated; its phenomena are 



EDUCATION (CONTINUED). 271 

studied, and the knowledge thus acquired is turned 
to account in the service of man. It is not an acci- 
dent that the leaders of modern science have lived in 
Protestant countries. Protestantism encourages in- 
vestigation, welcomes discoveries, applies new ideas, 
and favors progress. . ... The principles of Prot- 
estantism concern man primarily as an individual. 
It is here that we discover a fundamental and wide- 
reaching difference from Romanism. Under Roman- 
ism the Church is the supreme object of (Concern. 
This fact, which lies at the basis of Roman Catholic 
education, largely controls the subjects of 'study and 
the methods of instruction. According to the Catho- 
lic view, the chief end of education is to make faith- 
ful and obedient members of the Church or subjects 
of the pope. This was clearly illustrated in the edu- 
cational activity of the Jesuits, who sought as the 
chief object not to elevate humanity by an increase 
of knowledge, but to check the Reformation by 
bringing up adherents to the Roman Church. On 
the other hand, Protestantism, which on this point is 
thoroughly evangelical, recognizes the worth of the 
individual man. This is its central point. It con- 
ceives the purpose of life to be a faithful discharge 
of every duty, both private and public, in the fear of 
God. Man is placed in a position of independence, 
and dignified with the responsibility of ascertaining 
and performing his duty immediately in the sight of 
God. There is no mediating priesthood with power 
over his faith and conscience. 

" Protestantism gave rise to popular education. In- 
fluenced by their fundamental principles, the reform- 
ers early began to labor for the establishment and 



272 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

improvement of schools. ... They were the first 
to establish the system of public schools. Roinan 
Catholic nations imitated them only under the stress 
of political necessity, and then in opposition to papal 
teaching, which makes education an exclusive func- 
tion of the Church. The countries at present most 
distinguished for intelligence and freedom are Prot- 
estant. When the Papacy, under the shock of the 
Reformation, began as a measure of self-defense to 
exercise more rigidly its repressive authority over the 
intellects of its adherents, Catholic nations gradually 
fell behind in the march of progress. In so far as 
any nation, as France, Austria, or Italy, has freed 
itself from ultramontane domination, it has bestowed 
greater care upon the instruction of the people, and 
removed the reproach of illiteracy. The superiority 
of Protestant training was magnificently attested at 
Sadowa and Sedan. 

" The relation of Protestantism to popular instruc- 
tion is clearly seen in the educational history of the 
United States. While Mexico under papal domina- 
tion has been weighed down by illiteracy and super- 
stition, our country has achieved distinction for the 
intelligence, freedom, and prosperity of its people." — 
"Homiletic Review," December, 1889. 

These sensible remarks show the essential difference 
between the two systems. The dominating idea with 
Romanism is party triumph, the exaltation of the 
Church at whatever cost. But the leading idea with 
Protestantism is the development of man, his restora- 
tion to primitive holiness, the image of God. Hence 
education for all, the Bible in the .hands of the peo- 
ple, freedom, culture, individual responsibility, and 



EDUCATION (CONTINUED). 273 

personal holiness are leading tenets of Protestantism ; 
while, hear the priest, believe the Church, obey the 
pope as God are the blinding, rnind-enslaving, soul- 
destroying teachings of Bomanism. 

Now, in conclusion, seeing that Rome is planting 
her schools in all the cities and towns of this country, 
as propagating agencies for the spread of her ghostly 
superstitions; and seeing that thoughtless Protest- 
ants, American citizens, are patronizing these institu- 
tions, educating their children under Jesuit influ- 
ences; and knowing that Borne boasts that more than 
half the children in her schools are from Protestant 
families, and a large per cent., some think seven- 
eights, of these become converts to her superstitions; 
and knowing that she now has a wonderful hold on 
the politics of this nation, and is boastfully prophe- 
sying her triumph in this republic within twenty-five 
years — we ask: Is it not high time to awake from 
sleep and grapple with this foe of our God, our gov- 
ernment, and our freedom? 

" Is the State prepared to abdicate its functions in 
the matter of educating her future citizens, and in- 
trust the training of her youth to those whom Napo- 
leon banished from the schools of France because he 
found that nothing was taught there except the creed 
and the elements of the papal faith; to those whom 
Bismarck banished from the schools of Germany; to 
those who have been removed from all the educa- 
tional institutions of Italy ? ( After they had wrecked 
them, so the government has to build them anew.) 
If the State is not prepared to intrust her youth to 
the training of the Jesuits, then let the people arise 
and say so in the pulpit, on the platform, through 
18 



274 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

the press, and at the ballot-box, in tones so loud and 
clear that their echoes shall reverberate within the 
walls of the Vatican." — From "An Open Letter to the 
Friends of the Free Schools," etc., "Com. of One Hnnd." 
Boston. 



Rome in the United States and Some 
Other Countries, 



" If ever the liberty of the American Kepublic is destroyed, it 
will be the work of Roman Catholic priests." — Lafayette. 

Having studied the creed of Rome in the first part 
of this book, and taken a glance at her history; and 
having already in the second part of our work briefly 
noticed the fact that she is the same to-day as in the 
past, only lacking opportunity to crush freedom 
and kindle afresh the flames of the Inquisition; and 
having further shown that her educational policy is 
not in the interest of the people, for the enkindling 
of light and the diffusion of knowledge, but simply 
for the safety of her creed and the spread of her 
power, we come now to consider her methods of self- 
propagation in this republic. She is bending every 
energy, concentrating every force, and scrupling at 
no trick by which she may throttle Republicanism, 
bruise freedom, crush Protestantism, control the 
press, shape legislation, direct our institutions, ma- 
nipulate our national wealth, and enthrone the pope 
in our midst, and through this nation secure the 
homage of all others, till he shall acquire what he 
constantly claims as of divine right: universal 
temporal and spiritual sovereignty. Just recall some 
of her lordly claims. " The pope is divine monarch, 
supreme emperor, and king of kings" ("Ferraris, 
Diet.") "Hence the common doctrine teachefch that 
the pope hath the power of the two swords — the 

(275) 



276 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

spiritual and the temporal." (Ibid.) "O sover- 
eign pontiff, alike in spirituals and in temporals!" 
("Brownson.") "Two swords were given to Peter: 
the one temporal, and the other spiritual." ("Ber- 
nard.") "The bishop is bound, in places where the 
holy Inquisition flourishes, to purge th^ diocese 
committed to him of heretics." (Liguori. ) "All 
heretics, schismatics, and rebels against the same 
our lord (the pope), or aforesaid successors, I will 
persecute and attack to the utmost of my power." 
("Bishop's Oath Pontifical Romaniim" 1738.) So 
much for her doctrine on this subject. 
Now for the practice. 

"You should do all in your power to carry out the 
intentions of his Holiness, the pope. Where you 
have the electoral franchise, give your votes to none 
but those who assist you in so holy a struggle." — 
Daniel O'Connell. 

Now this is one of the secrets of her power: she 
has perfect control of the bulk of her followers. To 
good Catholics the voice of the pope is the voice of 
God, and the voice of the priest is the voice of the 
pope. In one of the pretended visions of Marie 
Alacoque she represents Christ as saying to her: 
" If I have given thee a commandment, and thy con- 
fessor giveth thee another, it is thy confessor whom 
thou must obey." So the confessor is put ahead of 
the Lord Jesus to the poor penitent, at the feet of a 
priest, seeking pardon of sin from him. Only let the 
priest give the direction above quoted, and see how 
quickly, how readily he is obeyed. The following 
from the Toledo Catholic Review is easily read and 
understood: 



KOME IN THE U. S. AND OTHER COUNTRIES. 277 

" Catholic votes should be cast solidly for the 
Democracy at the next election. It is the only pos- 
sible hope to break down the school system." 

Catholics, as such, care nothing for the Democratic 
party or the Republican party, but only for the tri- 
umph of the pope. Any party that will pander to 
their demands can control their votes. In this they 
are like the saloon element — their politics being 
wrapped up not in principle, but in triumph. And 
here is our great danger. It is clear to any one who 
closely observes the drift of the times that the two 
great political parties are dominated by men who are 
conscienceless enough to barter away the highest 
interests of the country for party success, the posses- 
sion of office. They will either sell out to Home and 
the saloons to beat the other. In closely contested 
elections the saloon and Eoman elements can readily 
decide the issue. But their votes belong to no party 
nor principle, but to themselves, and the political 
party making the largest concession to their demands 
is the one that will secure their support. This means 
triumph; and to a thoughtless or unprincipled office- 
seeker the bait is too tempting to refuse. He bites, 
with him his party is caught, and Eome as the suc- 
cessor of Peter proves her skill as a " fisher of men." 

The following from the pen of Father Hecker, 
written twenty years ago, is to the point: 

" The Catholic Church numbers one-third* ( ?! ) of 
the American population, and if its membership shall 
increase for the next thirty years as it has the thirty 
years past, in 1900 Eome will have a majority, and 



*This is not true; but so he claims. 



278 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

be bound to take this country and keep it. There is, 
erelong, to be a state religion in this country, and 
that state religion is to be the Roman Catholic. 

"1. The Roman Catholic is to WIELD HIS VOTE 
for the purpose of securing Catholic ascendency in this 
country. 

" 2. All legislation must be governed by the will of 
God, unerringly indicated by the pope. 

"3. Education must be controlled by Catholic author r 
ities, and under education the opinions of the 'individual 
and the utterances of the press are included, and many 
opinions are to be forbidden by the secular arm, tinder the 
authority of the Church, even to ivar and bloodshed " — 
Catholic World, July, 1870. 

I underscored much of the above, and hope the 
reader will stop and ponder it all. We subjoin some 
paragraphs from Rev. Scott F. Herschey, Ph.D., 
which we think worthy of a place here. Some items 
are repetitions of matter heretofore given, but the 
reader should become familiar with them. He says: 

"There is hardly a prorftinent political paper in 
the United States without a Catholic censor, who sees 
that nothing is printed that he does not like. One of 
the most reliable United States school histories was 
thrown out of the Boston schools, and another ' fixed 
over' by a priest was substituted, upon the demand of 
the Catholics. In a very few years the Catholics 
pulled $11,000,000 out of the treasury of New York 
City to support Catholic institutions. What Protest- 
ant Church would attempt such a thing? With all 
this public support of Catholic institutions that 
Church makes out to keep its people in stupid ig- 
norance. 



ROME IN THE U. S. AND OTHER COUNTRIES. 279 

" Some time ago a great Catholic Congress was in 
session in Madrid. On the first day the Congress, by 
a unanimous vote, formulated a communication to 
the pope declaring the main purpose of the Congress 
to be to endeavor to obtain the restoration of the 
temporal power of the Holy See. And upon the sec- 
ond day the session was enlivened by a speech from 
one of the leading delegates violently denouncing the 
Italian government for its action in denying to the 
pope the sovereignty of the territory wrested from 
his temporal control by Victor Emanuel. 

"The Republic of Ecuador is an instance of what 
Catholic supremacy means. One-fourth of all the 
property belongs to the bishops. Ten per cent, of 
the population are ecclesiastics; ninety-five per cent, 
cannot read; and three-fourths of the births are ille- 
gitimate. The priestly order elects the President and 
Legislature. 

"At this writing the clerical portion, which is Cath- 
olic, of the Legislature of Brazil are imperiling the 
stability of the government, and threaten a dead-lock 
in the appropriation bills if the ' Liberty of Worship 
Bill ' passes. 

"Jesuitism is working its w T ay, with daring purpose, 
into Canadian legislation. An act has been passed 
by the Provincial Legislature containing a proviso 
that it is to become a law only upon the approval of 
the pope. 

" There is but one showing made by the present 
Catholic revival throughout the world, and that show- 
ing brings in a purpose of ante-reformation times. It 
is this: The only permanent security of the See of 
Rome in its transcendentalism of power in things 



280 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

spiritual rests upon its actual political dominion. 
Rome sees this, and hence the struggle. If there is 
a general failure, then the days of the Catholic 
Church are numbered."— In St. Louis Christian Ad- 
vocate. 

The wily agents of Rome are constantly waging 
their war against the schools of the people in New 
York, Chicago, St. Louis, San Francisco, New Or- 
leans, and every city and town of importance in this 
republic. 

An American Catholic, in the New York Mail and 
Express, says: "The Church has a regular lobby at 
Washington, headed by Friar Stevens, so as to pro- 
cure the disbursing of Indian funds through Catho- 
lic channels. The Church has the same appliance at 
every legislative hall in the United States." 

" Funds, funds! money, money!" is her cry from 
pope to priest, and from Rome to the ends of the 
earth. 

Dr. Strong tells us that in New York City the 
authorities during the eleven years preceding 1880 
gave to the Roman Church real estate valued at $3,- 
500,000 and money to the amount of $5,027,571— all 
for the Romish votes and in violation of law. 

Father Hecker says that the aggregate wealth of 
the Roman Church in the United States increased 
from 1850 to 1870 from $9,000,000 to $60,000,000. 

The Bishop of Charleston has said: " Within thir- 
ty years the Protestant heresy will come to an end." 

" Canada is not the United States, but it is our 
next-door neighbor, and some people are anxious to 
see it annexed to the United States. We should like 
to know just how much w T ill be involved in this an- 



ROME IN THE U. S. AND OTHER COUNTRIES. 281 

nexation, especially in view of the following dispatch 
from Quebec of February 1, and published in the 
New York Times of February 2, 1889: 

" ' The influence which the Church of Eome has 
acquired over the Legislature of this province would 
astonish an outsider. The simplest measure is not 
sure of becoming law unless the government can cer- 
tify that it has received the sanction of Cardinal 
Taschereau, and in three cases on Wednesday bills 
were presented to the Legislature with this assurance. 
Even in the case of an act providing for the registra- 
tion of births, marriages, and deaths — a measure which 
has repeatedly been demanded by the Provincial 
Board of Health — =the government felt constrained to 
announce that it had been approved by the cardinal 
and his bishop. It was proposed to come to the as- 
sistance of the farmers whose grain had been de- 
stroyed by the wet weather of last fall, and the pre- 
mier promised that if a committee was formed, with 
the cardinal as chairman, to distribute the funds, 
the government would contribute liberally.' "—From 
"Romanism in Four Chapters" H. C. Mabie, D.D. 

This same Cardinal Taschereau "refused to attend 
the opening of the Provincial Parliament in the Prov- 
ince of Quebec unless a special throne w^as set up for 
him in the Parliament House directly under the 
queen's arms, claiming precedence over even the rep- 
resentative of the queen, the lieutenant-governor of 
the province; a proposition to which, according to a 
telegram to the Minneapolis Journal of January 12, 
1889, the Parliament tamely submitted, the Speaker 
of the Senate and premier apologizing for not hav- 
ing anticipated the cardinal's prerogative." — Ibid. 



282 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

This looks very much like papal rule in the gov- 
ernment of our next-door neighbor; but it does not 
satisfy the pope. He does not claim to rule there 
yet. His soul is yearning over the United States. 
Pope Gregory XVI. (1832 A.D. ) believed "the salva- 
tion of the Church would come from America," and 
said: "Out of the Eoman States there is no country 
where I am pope except the United States." 

His hold was certainly slim then, but as a prophecy 
it was not far wrong, according to the present outlook. 
Let us note some signs of papal progress: 

"From 1850 to 1880 about 8,000,000 foreigners 
were added to our population. It is estimated that 
their immediate offspring amounted to 4,000,000 more, 
making 12,000,000 of people, foreign in ideas and sym- 
pathies, if not in speech, added to our population. 
During this period the total gain of the United 
States was 27,000,000; so that four-ninths, or nearly 
one-half, was really foreign. Of these, 7,000,000 or 
8,000,000 were Roman Catholic in religion, and com- 
ing here to vote according to the dictates of the pope 
and crafty Jesuits; vote and labor to pull down our 
free institutions, whether they could speak a word of 
English or not; not knowing a line of our Constitu- 
tion, and as ignorant of the first principles of repub- 
lican government as a wild boar." 

This looks like Rome is bent on taking this na- 
tion. This being a popular, republican government, 
all that is needed to rule is a majority, and with such 
floods of immigration, the day when the old man at 
Rome can control the majority requisite to manipu- 
late this government may not be far distant. 

" We have said that about 8,000,000 immigrants 



KOME IN THE U. S. AND OTHER COUNTRIES. 283 



landed upon our shores from 1850 to 1880. An im- 
mense number of these came from the prisons and 
pauper-houses of Europe. According to a report of 
the Howard Society of London, 74 per cent, of the 
Irish discharged convicts have found their way to 
the United States. 

"During this period, while our population only 
doubled, the defective classes, including deaf, dumb, 
blind, idiotic, and insane, increased 400 per cent. 
The increase of the blind during this time w x as from 
9,000 to 50,000; of deaf and dumb, from 10,000 to 
35,000; of idiots, from 15,000 to over 90,000. There 
are no statistics since 1880, but as the immigration 
has been great, so we behold the rapid increase of 
pauperism and vice. 

" In 1888, in the State of New York, there were 
300,000 criminals, paupers, insane persons, tramps, 
and vagabonds, and upon close investigation it w T as 
found that seven-eighths of them were of foreign 
birth or parentage. The annual cost of supporting 
criminals and paupers in the State is $25,000,000. 
Thus the ratio of tax paid by the people of New York 
is annually $37,500 on their native criminals and pau- 
pers against $272,500 on imported classes." And 
the most of these foreigners are Roman Catholic 
idolaters, who are allowed to believe that they can 
commit all sorts of sin and for a small sum have 
priestly absolution. 

And now the terrible fact faces us that the major- 
ity of the population in our largest cities are foreign- 
ers, and these are generally Catholics. The cities are 
the seat of political power, and they hold the desti- 
nies of national progress, and even life, to a large de- 



284 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

gree. So here Rome plants her schools, churches, 
hospitals, and convents; here she masses her forces 
and aims by priestly cunning and political intrigue 
to secure control of the nation. See how she masses 
her forces at Washington City. "Why her great uni- 
versity there? Why her wily Jesuits in the Con- 
gressional halls? Echo answers: "Why?" 

But hear her boast in the following from a speech 
in Boston by Cardinal Gibbons. He refers to their 
progress in the six New England States. He said: • 

"In 1837 these six Eastern States contained only 1 
bishop, 24 priests, 17 churches, and 10,000 Catholics; 
but in 1888 there are 1 archbishop, 6 bishops, 900 
priests, 600 churches, and 1,200,000 Catholic popula- 
tion." 

While the Catholics increased from 10^000 to 
1,200,000, the population failed to double, increasing 
only from 2,200,000 to a little over 4,000,000. No 
wonder Borne thought to run Boston's schools in her 
own way and to the pope's interest! The Catholic 
Mirror figures Bome's strength in this republic as 
follows: 

"The Catholic Church, according to the Direct- 
ory for 1888, is represented in the United States 
by 1 cardinal, who is Archbishop of Baltimore; 10 
other archbishops, 68 bishops, 7,596 priests, 1,974 
aspirants for priestly honors, 6,820 churches, 3,057 
chapels and oratorios, 29 clerical seminaries, 91 col- 
leges for the education of males, 588 for the female 
sex, 2,606 parochial schools with 511,603 pupils, and 
472 charitable institutions." 

With the methods of Romanism in mind, we can 
easily estimate her political strength in our land from 



ROME IN THE U. S. AND OTHER COUNTRIES. 285 

these figures. Under such an army of drilled leaders 
as the above what may we not expect from 8,000,000 
of Roman Catholics, many of whom are foreigners by 
birth, training, and sympathy; opposed to our Bible 
and our religion, our Churches and schools, our Sab- 
bath and our customs, our politics, and our govern- 
ment — in fact, to every thing that ennobles, elevates, 
and differentiates our nation from the priest-ridden, 
oppressed, ignorant, and poverty-stricken lands from 
whence they came? Rev. Edward Barrass, of Canada, 
to whom we are indebted for some of these figures, 
gives in a Review article the following: 

"From 1850 to 1880 the population of the United 
States increased 116 per cent.; the communicants of 
evangelical Churches, 185 per cent. ; and the Catholic 
population, 294 per cent. During the same period evan- 
gelical churches (buildings) increased 125 per cent., 
while the Catholic churches increased 447 per cent." 

With such rapid growth, facilitated by the craze 
in this country for immigration, which is often 
manipulated by crafty Jesuits in the interests of the 
pope, what is the duty of lovers of freedom, friends 
of our country? Are not our readers familiar with 
t]ie Catholic origin and control of the Southern Im- 
migration Scheme originated in Carolina a few years 
since? They proposed to bring in and colonize the 
immigrants with money furnished by the people; 
while the selection of the new-comers was to be made 
in the interest of popery in this country. With un- 
swerving devotion to the papacy; with Jesuit manip- 
ulators, schools, hospitals, and nunneries, all of which 
are but shrewdly managed proselyting and propagat- 
ing agencies; with the constant influx of population, 



286 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

supplemented by immigration schemes for wliicli 
money is supplied by thoughtless or venal specula- 
tors; how long will it be before Priest Hecker's boast 
will be realized and Rome control this country? 

Rome's' power in Europe is thus expressed by a 
German writer, Rev. Dr. J. H. W. Stuckenberg, of 
Berlin. He says: 

"At the jubilee of Leo XIII. we behold the spec- 
tacle of Queen Victoria bowing before his Holiness. 
According to the official journal of the papacy, the 
queen expressed the wish 'that the Catholic religion 
may prosper more and more throughout the whole 
extent of the British empire.' By an especial legate 
she sent the pope a gold basin and ew r er, with this in- 
scription: 'To his Holiness, Pope Leo XIII., from 
Victoria R. I., 1888.' As a result, Salisbury obtained 
from the pope what he desired." 

Here we have the great Protestant British govern- 
ment bowing and cringing before the papal See, to 
the great delight of the pontiff and his vassals. And 
the minister of the government obtaining desired 
favors. How is this in the eyes of a people whose 
ancestors w r ere burned at the stake by this same papal 
system for believing in freedom and worshiping God 
according to the dictates of their conscience? 

But our writer continues: 

"In France the Republicans fear to separate 
Church and State, lest the republic might be de- 
stroyed in the ensuing struggle with the papacy. In 
Austria the influence of the clergy is strong enough 
to attempt again to make the schools confessional and 
to seek the ecclesiastical control of education.* In 

* The same is attempted in Boston r»,nd all over these United 
States. , 



ROME IN THE l\ S. AND OTHER COUNTRIES. 287 

Spain the dogma of intolerance is enforced and 
heretical books are burned. In the Netherlands the 
Catholics are in the minority, but by uniting with 
the anti-revolutionary Protestants they force the gov- 
ernment to comply with their wishes. In this way 
the law of 1806 on non-confessional instruction, of 
which Holland was justly proud, was repealed. It is 
a fact that in many countries the true sovereign is 
not the king, but the pope, acting through his bish- 
ops and curates." 

Again our author says: 

"Since the accession of Leo XIII. the power of 
the papacy has not ceased to increase. The Vatican 
is to-day one of the diplomatic centers of Europe. 
The reason is evident. The Eoman Catholics obey 
the priest, who receives his instruction from the arch- 
bishop and the pope. In countries where Eoman 
Catholicism is strong, as in Belgium, the pope exer- 
cises an authority greater than that of the king." — 
In "Homiletic Review" June, 1890. 

My countrymen, this is a republican form of gov- 
ernment. The majority rule. Eomanism is gaining 
in numbers among us rapidly. Shall the mitered old 
gentleman of Eome rule America? If not, it will be 
no fault of his wily servants, the Jesuits. 

All Europe feels the strength of this giant foe of 
progress, light, and freedom. Both Protestant and 
Catholic nations are hampered and cursed by popery. 
We give another witness. 

Dr. Buckley, of New York, traveling in Spain, re- 
ports as follows: 

"Priests as a class are notoriously frivolous and 
profligate. The hardest things we heard of them 



288 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

came from Catholics, and no Protestant would dare 
to speak publicly of them as they are spoken of by 
their own people. In one great -city the wife of a 
foreign consul, herself a Catholic, declared that ' there 
were but three or four priests in the entire Church in 
that city to whom an honest woman could confess.' 
The people consider the confessional, chiefly fre- 
quented by women, as an organized institution for 
the destruction of the family. 

"Priests, when performing their mercenary serv- 
ices in the largest cathedrals, are often frivolous. 
In the Seville cathedral the most disreputable spec- 
tacle I ever saw in any religious edifice was present- 
ed by a number of priests, who were chanting the 
requiem for a deceased priest. They laughed and 
talked during the service, and even the leader, when 
not engaged in singing himself, laughed and joked 
with the rest of those who were unemployed, without 
any attempt at concealment. 

" Some years ago a freethinker named Garcia Yao 
edited a paper in Madrid largely devoted to the pub- 
lication of authentic cases of immorality committed 
by priests. He was very particular to have facts, 
and the record was extraordinary and awful. It re- 
vealed in many of the remoter villages of Spain, 
where no papers are published, a condition of immo- 
rality defying belief. In many of those villages there 
are few besides the priest who can read or write. The 
people are crushed, and there is no one of sufficient 
influence to protest against these immoralities. As 
the record weekly increased it became necessary to 
dispose of Vao, who was assassinated, no one could 
tell how. 



ROME IN THE U. S. AND OTHER COUNTRIES. 289 



u The Sabbath is the great day for bull-fights, and 
from the most elaborate services in the cathedrals, 
closing at 1 o'clock, the people hasten to the bull- 
fight, and spend the rest of the day in a manner in- 
compatible with religion of any kind. 

" The work done by Romanism everywhere, of es- 
tablishing a false conscience and of treating the whole 
subject of moral accountability on a sliding scale, 
giving absolution without holding the soul to its al- 
legiance to God, has in Spain gone to the last degree 
compatible with human nature. 

" Observe that it is not denied that there are many 
moral men in the Roman Catholic Church, and it is 
not affirmed that all priests in Spain are corrupt. 
But that the institution does not promote morality, 
does promote licentiousness and looseness of all 
kinds, I am compelled to believe, though more than 
willing to perceive and acknowledge the contrary, if 
it existed. 

" In addition to this, the pecuniary exactions from 
the people are so great as directly to promote licen- 
tiousness." — In Christian Advocate. 

A question: "Do the friends of 'Cod and home 
and native land ' want such a state of things in this 
country? " If not, will they arouse themselves to the 
issue ? 

Avarice and superstition are the twin pillars on 
which the papacy builds its mammoth structure. The 
following is from the Signs of the Times, August, 
1889: 

"A key to the understanding of this mediaeval in- 
iquity projected into our nineteenth century civiliza- 
19 



290 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

tion is to be found in a personal ambition of the pope 
and liis cabinet for political and money power. The 
Peter's pence offering made throughout the world 
last year reached $1,500,000. An additional $100,- 
000 came from other sources. Interest on invested 
capital amounted to $500,000. The pope received 
$400,000 in gifts. This is an income of $2,500,000 a 
year. And what is done with it? There is no in- 
stance that a hundred dollars of it has been devoted 
to the starving Catholics of Ireland and Italy." 

Shall the wealth of this nation of light be poured 
into the insatiable coffers of the hierarchy at Rome? 
What of Protestants who help to build Catholic 
churches, schools, hospitals, and other of her agen- 
cies of propagandism ? 

The subjoined strong w r ords are from a recent ser- 
mon of Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, in which he shows that 
the system is spreading like a great upas-tree in En- 
glish soil. He show T s that the formalism and heresy 
of baptismal regeneration feed the rank superstition 
in his country: 

" It is a most fearful fact that in no age since the 
Reformation has popery made such fearful strides in 
England as during the last few years. I had com- 
fortably believed that popery was only feeding itself 
upon foreign subscriptions, upon a few titled per- 
verts and imported monks and nuns. I dreamed that 
its progress was not real. In fact, I have often 
smiled at the alarm of many of my brethren at the 
progress of popery. But, my dear friends, w 7 e have 
been mistaken, grievously mistaken. If you will 
read a valuable paper in the magazine called Christian 
Yforh, those of you who are not acquainted with it 



ROME IN THE U. S. AND OTHER COUNTRIES. 291 

will be perfectly startled at its revelations. Tliis 
great city is now covered with a net-work of monks 
and priests and sisters, of mercy, and the conversions 
made are not by ones or twos, but by scores, till En- 
gland is regarded*as the most hopeful sppt^olr Romish 
missionary enterprise in the whole \£orld; and at the 
present moment there is not a mission which is suc- 
ceeding to any thing like the extent which the En- 
glish mission is. I covet not their money, I despise 
their sophistries; but I marvel at the way in which 
they gain their funds for the erection of their eccle- 
siastical buildings. It really is an alarming matter 
to see so many of our countrymen going off to that 
superstition which as a nation we once rejected, and 
which it was supposed we should never again receive. 
Popery is making advances such as you would never 
believe, though a spectator should tell it to you. 
Close to your very doors, perhaps even in your own 
houses, you may have evidence erelong of what a 
march Romanism is making. And to what is it to be 
ascribed? I say, with every ground of probability, 
that there is no marvel that popery should increase 
when you have two things to make it grow: first of 
all, the falsehood of those who profess a faith which 
they do not believe, which is quite contrary to the 
honesty of the Romanist who does through evil re- 
port and good report hold his faith; and then you 
have, secondly, this form of error known as baptis- 
mal regeneration, and commonly called Puseyism, 
which is not only Puseyism, but Church-of-England- 
ism, because it is in the Prayer Book, as plainly as 
words can express it — you have this baptismal re- 
generation preparing stepping-stones to make it easy 



292 THE DANGEK SIGNAL. 

for men to go to Rome. I have but to open my eyes 
a little to foresee Ronianisni rampant everywhere in 
the future, since its germs are. spreading everywhere 
in the present." 

I beg my readers to awake to the* responsibility of 
saving our land, our homes, our Churches, our free- 
dom, our friends, and the nations of the earth from 
papal superstition and tyranny. The next chapter 
will grapple with the query: "What shall be done?" 

We close this chapter with a few quotations from 
able writers, who speak out on Romanism. 

"At a meeting of Catholics recently held at Mont- 
real a resolution was passed sympathizing with the 
pope in his efforts to gain temporal power. This is 
the heart faith and desire of every true Catholic in 
the world, and the time is coming when Romanism 
will attempt to throttle liberty* of speech and con- 
science in our land." — Rev. J. B. Crcntfill, Texas. 

"Whatever of truth w^as once recognized by the 
papal Church, and whatever of piety may have been 
displayed from age to age by individuals in her com- 
munion, because they could not be out of it, the 
Roman Catholic Church is a great 'political ma- 
chine' (Dr. Mc Glynn), as purely human and as en- 
tirely opposed to Christ and the true spirit of his 
teachings as any system of idolatry or false religion 
the world has ever known. The papacy has only 
honored and used the truth as a means to sustain her 
usurped power and tide her errors over the obstruc- 
tions thrown in her way by Christ and his doctrines — 
wise as serpents, if not harmless as doves — a strategic 
point in her logic quite creditable to her skill." — 
Rev. W. M. Prottsman, Missouri 



ROME IN THE U. S. AND OTHER COUNTRIES. 293 

"The devil is at home in Romanism. The world 
loves its own; and hence the world, beastly in its pro- 
clivities, bows down to the ' beast ' as to its God. 
Emperors, presidents, kings, all without God, worship 
the beast. Romanism is a monstrosity. It is incon- 
ceivable in extent, in purpose, and in plan, because 
it is the creation of that being cast down from heaven 
to hell, and doing his utmost to capture the race, and 
whelm it in ruin. Romanism is a diabolical plot. 
By its aid millions on millions have been ruined, and 
millions more are on the way. Nothing but the gos- 
pel of Christ can save them. Every surrender to 
Rome injures them. The truth alone can redeem 
them. As a system of error, Romanism is more to 
Satan than is Mohammedanism, Brahmanism, or any 
other of the great systems of error that have found 
on this earth a theater for operation and in the soul 
of man a place for habitation." — Rev. J. D. Fulton, in 
" Why Priests Should Wed." 

"We are inclined to hope that God is hastening 
the end of that abnormal monstrosity that has for so 
many ages perpetuated its hideous deformity on the 
Tiber, and cast its hateful shadow over all Southern 
Europe." — Rev. Dr. Lafferty, Virginia. 

May it be so! Amen. 



What Shall Be Done? 



That something should be done is certainly patent. 
There is a duty facing every friend of our country 
and every lover of our Lord Jesus Christ. The 
question suggests two lines of treatment — viz., the 
civil or political phase, and the religious. Let us 
consider these two phases of the problem separately. 

A Civil oe Political Stand-point. 

This side of the question cannot be slighted, for 
Rome is in politics to do or die. 

1. The first thing needed is light. Study the sub- 
ject as "thoroughly as possible. Read the books and 
periodicals on the Romish question till you know her 
spirit and purposes and plans. We never can cope 
successfully with an antagonist with whom we have 
no acquaintance, or rather of whose spirit, aims, and 
methods we know nothing. A wily foe who has 
studied you and whom you have not studied has 
every advantage, or at least many advantages of you. 
Herein is the strength of Rome in this country: she 
understands us, but we as a people do not know her. 
Our people have slept while Rome's spies have 
scoured the land and her well-equipped troops have 
planted and manned her fortifications. Now that she 
is intrenched in our midst we are barely awaking to 
to her presence. The voices of the watchmen are 
calling us to arouse and come forth. 
(294) 



WHAT SHALL BE DONE? 295 

No friend of his country can afford to longer delay, 
but all should take their stand for defense. Let us 
acquaint ourselves with the character and strength of 
the invading forces, and carefully study their move- 
ments. It is essential to our best interests that all 
do this. 

2. Our second suggestion is similar to the first. 
Let us work to induce others to examine the ques- 
tion. It is a matter involving national issues and 
destiny, and is therefore of great consequence to all 
the people. One cannot do what is to be done by all; 
therefore we must strive to awaken others. Let each 
reader of this book put it into the hands of his 
neighbor; and then let them co-operate to secure 
other literature to carry forward their own investiga- 
tions and sow the seeds of awakening among all with- 
in their reach. If each one who becomes aroused 
will circulate, by gift, sale, or loan, such books, tracts, 
and papers as contain reliable information for the 
people on Romanism, the leaven will soon spread 
through the whole lump of national life. 

Be assured there is nothing Rome so much dreads 
as light. She is an inveterate, uncompromising 
enemy of light. She shuts out the light of the Bible. 
Followers of Jesus may say with the Psalmist, " Thy 
word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my 
path" (Ps. cxix. 105); but the soul in the merciless 
shackles of Rome must turn away from God's great 
luminary, that shines in undimmed splendor in 
the spiritual firmament, and walk in the flickering 
rays of tradition and the "unanimous consent of 
the Fathers," a thing as unreliable as a noonday con- 
versation with the fabled "man in the moon." Rome 



296 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

puts out the light of reason, too, and when the mighty 
Galileo commenced to turn on the light of his inves- 
tigations, Rome brought her invincible argument — 
the stake and fagots— by means of which she con- 
vinced ( ! ! ) him that his assumptions were not ten- 
able. 

So, when a Boston school committee turned the 
light of history on the past of Rome's dark doings, 
forthwith school-books must be altered and teachers 
exchanged. Roman Catholicism cannot bear the light. 
The child, the man, the community, the nation, must 
all be kept in the densest darkness for her satisfaction 
and triumph. Therefore let friends of liberty and of 
right remember the words of Jesus to a class of his 
day: " Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, 
neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be 
reproved " — i. e., discovered, understood, and corrected. 
The solution of the question is in light. Protestants 
and Romanists alike need it. There" are many noble 
souls who are fettered by the superstitions of this 
hideous system of idolatry and depravity, who would 
leave it at once and forever if they could only see it 
from the outside. But they are not allowed that 
privilege by the pope and the priests. Hence we in- 
sist that the people be informed what Romanism as a 
system has done, and what it is trying to do. 

Another way to work is by the use of the pen. 
Let those who write sift this matter through the 
press, by books, tracts, and newspaper articles. 

Let ministers preach on the heresies of the system, 
neighbors talk it over, and all strive to spread the 
needed information through the land. If editors and 
others who use the pen would but try, it would not 



WHAT SHALL BE DONE? 297 

be long before they could awaken the whole country. 
The people of this republic have too high apprecia- 
tion of liberty to surrender to the machinations of the 
pope and his emissaries pur blood-bought freedom. 
From every tripod send forth true words of warning; 
let every orator and preacher pour forth ringing 
words of truth that shall stir the depths of the man- 
hood of our great nation, till Rome's last chain shall 
be broken and her benighted millions enter with great 
joy into the unclouded light of freedom and Bible 
salvation. 

3. In the next place, let it be understood that 
Catholic schools are the chief agency used by priest 
and pope to proselyte this land. Hence all friends 
of "God and home and native land"' should un- 
compromisingly oppose the mighty efforts of Rome 
to capture the public school system of this country. 
Her plan is to drive the Bible out. of the schools, say- 
ing that the use of the Book in the schools makes 
them sectarian. Thus, with the infidels, she secures 
laws and judicial decisions excluding the Word of 
God from the public schools. She then declares 
them all godless institutions, and refuses her patron- 
age. The next step is to build her parochial schools 
and demand her share of the public school funds. 
With this she runs an institution called a school for 
education, but the chief object of which is to propa- 
gate, or at least to shield, the errors of her creed. But 
for fear of the influences of schools in other hands 
than her own, and but for the opportunity of making- 
proselytes from Protestantism, Borne would have no 
schools for the masses — the " common people," as she 
styles them. 



298 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

Under no circumstance should a friend to civil and 
religious liberty, a friend to the Bible and a pure, 
unadulterated form of Christianity, ever patronize, 
support, or encourage Romish schools. It is decid- 
edly better for the nation, and for the child himself, 
that he go without schooling than that he be sent to 
a Catholic school to be ensnared by the agents of the 
pope. Rome boasts that she is educating the children 
of thousands of Protestants, many of whom become 
perverts to her superstitions, while others who re- 
main in the ranks of Protestantism are at least 
friendly to Rome. How many are to-day in the 
meshes of Rome who were reared in Catholic schools, 
though born in Protestant families! 

Over this question many of our country's battles 
will yet have to be fought. Give the priests and 
nuns the first ten or twelve years of the child's life, 
and they boast that that child will be a Catholic. 
The chance is good for them to redeem their pledge 
in about half of the cases. He is not a true Protestant, 
a true, real friend to the Bible and a pure Christian- 
ity, who, if he understands Romanism, will send his 
children to her institutions of propagandism com- 
monly called schools. If we would save our country, 
our Bible, our Churches, our liberties from popish 
interference and priestly intrigue and corruption, 
wisdom demands that we give her schools no patron- 
age, support, or encouragement. If a so-called Prot- 
estant, knowing the facts in the case, serds his 
children to Romish schools, you may know that he 
cares little for the blood-bought advantages of the 
gospel, and of national, civil, and religious freedom. 

Common school education should be furnished by 



WHAT SHALL BE DONE? 299 

the government in free schools where the Bible ought 
to be read and prayer offered. It is a shame against 
our Christian civilization that at the demand of 
Rome and infidelity the Bible is proscribed in the 
public schools of many of the States. This is not a 
heathen, infidel, or Roman Catholic nation, praise 
the Lord! and if we would maintain our national 
strength and glory, we should hold to the pure Word 
of God. It will inculcate honesty, sobriety, truthful- 
ness, virtue, economy, industry; promote intelligence 
and every essential element of national unity, strength, 
and glory. Borne is not satisfied to exclude the Bible 
from her own schools, but she insists on driving from 
the schools of the land not only the Bible, but the 
very voice of prayer. Shall, she succeed? and then 
will the inheritors of this land of Heaven-bestowed 
gospel liberty turn over the education of the rising 
youth to Romish agents, who, with Jesuitical cun- 
ning, are endeavoring to subject this glorious new 
world to the papal rule which has, like a deadly upas- 
tree, spread the robes of death over the crushed man- 
hood of every land where her scepter has been owned? 
Friends of God and freedom, beware! 

4. Let the friends of our liberties seek such legisla- 
tion as will prevent Romish interference with our 
peculiar national institutions. 

I do not mean to persecute Romanists, but let the 
Americans, not papists, control and direct our national 
life. Let neither saloonists, Mormons, nor Romanists 
have the reins of our government. Since the pope 
claims absolute temporal power, under his arrant 
assumptions of universal supremacy, our institutions 
are unsafe in the hands of his willing subjects. Thus 



300 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

our schools are frequently subservient to Romish in- 
terests, and our State and national treasuries supply 
them with funds for advancing their own dogmas, 
and our legislative halls are often packed with Jesuit- 
ical schemers, who are, as they boast, but corpses in 
the hands of their superiors. And remember, reader, 
that the papal chain always links to the papal throne. 
Every thing controlled and manipulated by Eomish 
propagandists points toward the throne of the old 
man on the Tiber. 

We want no persecution of Romanists, no Inquisi- 
tion, no legislation to harm Catholics; but we do need 
laws that will keep priestly hands oat of national 
treasuries, and prevent political transference of our 
government to the practical control of a foreign 
tiara-crowned despot. Let the pope and his emissa- 
ries learn to leave the affairs of America to Ameri- 
cans. 

Demand pure, incorruptible men for office — men 
who will not sell the interests of the country to bribe- 
givers for political preferment. Elect no rummies 
and no slaves of the pope to office simply through 
party fealty. If your party puts forward such candi- 
dates, remember that the prosperity of the country is of 
more consequence than the triumph of your political 
party. In an unflinching, unstudied, blind spirit of 
devotion to political party lines we believe one of the 
greatest dangers to our country may be found. He 
is no true citizen of this great republic who esteems 
party success of such immense importance as to for- 
get all other issues. Be true to your God and your 
country. Be kind, but persistent. Do not leave the 
destinies of our land in the hands of office-mongers, 



WHAT SHALL BE DONE? 301 

many of whom will sacrifice every thing to place, to 
political preferment. This is our weak point; and 
Rome's agents well know it. It is therefore a live 
question whether we will cling to political party 
bosses, while in their rage for office and thirst for 
power they bow to the behests of popery, and give 
Eome the recognition she demands in exchange for 
votes. Let no one hate Catholics, or wrong them, or 
mistreat them; but let all stand up for God, our 
homes, our liberties, and our nation's best interest. 

5. One other matter deserves more attention than 
I can here give it: the matter of IMMIGRATION. 

This is the Romanist's hope. If the pope can 
secure a majority here, he hopes to manage things 
much to his own interest, as he does in other coun- 
tries where he has the majority. His only chance in 
this country is in the education of the youth of the 
nation, the control of the politicians, or the flooding 
of the country with his subjects from the Romanized 
lands of Europe. Catholic progress in this country 
is largely owing to the rapid influx of Romanists by 
immigration. The following figures will substantiate 
all I assert:* 

"From 1880 to 1888 no less than 4,637,252 persons 
came to this country. At the same ratio the total 
immigration of the decade will probably reach 5,750,- 
000." " The other day some 1,^00 immigrants landed 
at East Boston from Liverpool — chiefly Irish — and 
many of them had not money enough to pay their 
penny-tax across the ferry; while persons recently 

*The quotations in this section are from a tract by Rev. J. B. 
Dunn, "Immigration and Naturalization," Committee of One 
Hundred, Boston. 



302 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

discharged from English prisons have reached Castle 
Garden, sent to this new Botany Bay of Europe by 
the Prisoners' Aid Society of London. During the 
week ending April 13, 12,000 immigrants left one 
port — Liverpool — for the United States. No wonder 
that for the week ending April 21 (1889) 12,556 
landed at Castle Garden, and for the week ending 
May 11, the arrivals were 10,355." 

" It must also be admitted that the majority of the 
population in our largest cities are either foreigners 
or the children of foreigners. Out of 100 persons in 
New York, 80 are foreign born or children of foreign 
born parents; Philadelphia, 51; Brooklyn, 67; Chi- 
cago, 87; Boston, 63; St. Louis, 78; New T Orleans, 51; 
Cleveland, 80; Pittsburg, 61; Washington, 71; Balti- 
more, 35; Cincinnati, 60; San Francisco, 78; Newark, 
25; Louisville, 50; Jersey City, 70; Detroit, 84; Mil- 
waukee, 84; Providence, 52." 

Now these foreigners are largely Romanists in be- 
lief, anti-American in theory, and ungodly in practice. 
Many of them oppose our mode of government, an- 
tagonize our common schools, deride our system of 
religion, insult our God, and curse our Churches. 
They turn our holy Sabbath into a holiday — a day for 
excursions, beer-gardens, ball-playing, theater-going, 
drunkenness, and general carousal. They supply a 
majority of our pauper, insane, and defective classes. 
They run a majority of the saloons, furnish a major- 
ity of the criminals, largely increase the expense of 
government, thus burdening tax-payers and running 
the country into debt, and general demoralization of 
society results. But to the facts : 

" Philadelphia has 8,039 persons engaged in the 



WHAT SHALL BE DONE? 303 

sale of liquor, of which number 7,5Q4 are foreigners. 
The total includes 475 Americans, of whom 265 are 
negroes, of wdiom, presumably, nearly all were born 
in the United States. Among these rum-sellers are 
3,696 women, all foreigners but one. The percent- 
age among the saloon-keepers of Philadelphia as to 
nationality is about the same as in all the cities of 
the Union, as the following figures indicate: 

"In 1880, east of the Mississippi, there was one 
saloon to every 438 persons; in Boston, one to every 
329; in Cleveland, one to every 192; in Chicago, one 
to every 179; in New York, one to every 171; in Cin- 
cinnati, one to every 124. 

"These hordes of foreigners are too much for us. 
They come not to be Americanized by us, but to 
Europeanize, Romanize — yea, even to devilize — us. 
They are largely controlling our cities, corrupting 
our politics, shaping the legislation and hindering 
the execution of our laws. Raised (as many of them 
are) under the domination of priestcraft, they come 
among us as willing subjects of the pope, and are 
under the shrewd manipulation of Jesuitical trick- 
sters. 

" The census of 1880 showed that only 13 per cent, 
of the population of the United States was foreign 
born, but this small per cent, supplied 19 per cent, of 
the convicts in the penitentiaries, and it also fur- 
nished 43 per cent, of the inmates of the houses of 
correction and work-houses." 

Rev. Dr. Parkhurst, of New York, well says: "Im- 
migration must be restricted. The nation has a lot 
of indigestible foreigners on its stomach. We are 
getting a great mass of foreign population; they are 



304 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

coming in hordes, with no intention of adapting 
themselves to our laws. They are coming to this 
country without dropping any of their reprehensible 
customs and practices, and try to ingraft them here. 
The Italian peasant comes here, and is as much of an 
Italian as when begging in the streets of Home. 
What we want is men who can come here and imbibe 
American ideas and principles. We want men to 
come here who will become citizens, and good Ameri- 
can citizens." 

Ex-Mayor Hewitt, speaking of the danger of unre- 
stricted immigration, says: "It threatens not merely 
the livelihood of American citizens, but threatens the 
prosperity of free institutions. As the labor of these 
people is sold in the block, so their votes can be 
sold. They are delivered at the polls, and where 
public sentiment is so finely divided as it is between 
the great parties of this country, a small contingent 
can determine which shall possess the government of 
this country." 

These things corrupt the politics, pervert the laws, 
hinder the progress, and stagnate the morals of the 
country. They beget strife, nourish political conten- 
tion and hatred, and foster the spirit of bribery and 
political thievery. 

What must be done? This is the question. We 
suggest: 

1. Restrict immigration. Do not exclude men by 
their nationality, as has been done in the case of the 
Chinese. Exclude criminals, anarchists, vagrants, 
professional beggars, and such as will not forever 
and unequivocally renounce all allegiance to any for- 
eign earthly power in both temporals and spirituals. 



WHAT SHALL BE DONE? 305 

Those who come as vassals of the pope can hardly 
make good citizens. The government should not 
prescribe any form of religion, of course, except it be 
that all men acknowledge this as a Christian nation. 
But men should in the most direct and emphatic 
manner renounce all allegiance to the Czar of Russia, 
the Emperor of Germany, the Queen of England, and 
as definitely and positively the Pope of Rome, who 
for centuries ground down the nations under the 
most awful tyranny that ever crushed the spirit and 
blighted the lives of men. Let the citizens of the 
United States recognize no earthly rulers save the 
proper authorities of our own government, to whom 
any fealty shall be due. 

If men refuse such terms of admission, let them 
remain where they are. They can derive but small 
benefit from us, while we may suffer incalculable evil 
from them. 

2. In the next place let us have an improvement in 
the terms of naturalization. It is entirely too easy 
now for men who come to us to take the elective 
franchise upon them. Only five years' residence is 
now required, and in the lax laws of many States 
even this is nullified; so that foreigners are frequent- 
ly voted at the polls who have not been among us 
long enough to speak our language; how much less 
do they understand our government, appreciate our 
institutions, or prize our liberties! 

Let no person be recognized at the polls until he 
can: 1. Read the Constitution in the English lan- 
guage. 2. Write his ticket without aid. 3. Prove a 
residence of twenty-one years among us. Our citi- 
zens have to reach the age of twenty-one; why should 
20 



306 



THE DANGER SIGNAL. 



not foreigners have the same drill among us? It is 
objected that they have already attained their major. 
ity before coming to us. So much the worse: they 
not only have to learn our government, but to un- 
learn theirs. Straightening old trees is slow, hard 
work. 4. Let him indorse our public school system 
and, if he has children, show his sincerity by patron- 
izing them instead of parochial schools for common 
school education. Borne is trying, by the most pow- 
erful enginery at her command, to break bown our 
school system and substitute her ecclesiastical enlist- 
ing agency, a chief method of propagandism, in its 
stead. Let every school retain the pure Word of 
God, and every elector acknowledge our school system 
in preference to Bome's convents, etc. 

The following strong, ringing words are worthy of 
study in this connection. 

"America has reached such a stage that she cannot 
longer continue to appropriate and assimilate yearly 
from half to three quarters of a million immigrants 
— the great majority of whom are totally ignorant of 
the country and its institutions, and who have to be 
educated by the experience of a long series of years — 
without incurring a serious danger. And it is high 
time for Congress to cry a halt, and put up some bars. 
'A country with 60,000,000 of people, with the elective 
franchise in the hands of 11,500,000 men, 3,000,000 
of whom cannot read the ballot they vote and about 
the same number of whom will sell their votes for a 
consideration ranging from a glass of beer to a V. 
greenback; with a press so devoted to party that it will 
support the worst men on its own ticket and belittle 
and lie about the best of men on the other ticket; with 



WHAT SHALL BE DONE? 307 

a foreign born vote that decides all elections, with 
two great parties truckling and cringing to this bal- 
ance of political power; with a heavy per cent, of 
citizens manufactured from the natives of other coun- 
tries, who will not assimilate or become homogeneous, 
who may be proud to be American citizens, but who 
are prouder of being born where they were born; 
who love the language, the flag, and the customs of 
the land of their birth, with a love passing that they 
feel for the flag* the laws, and the customs of the land 
of their adoption — a country with these things, and yet 
not knowing it has them, is in S, more dangerous con- 
dition than 50,000,000 of the 60,000,000 are aware 
of.' 

" We agree with Mr. Edwin P. Anthon, in his ' Pe- 
culiar American Institutions,' when he says: 'To ad- 
mit all classes, from all parts of the world, without in- 
quiry into their moral and intellectual competency, to 
become citizens of a republic, and then to admit them 
to citizenship in the brief period of five years, in 
which multitudes who could not read a word of their 
own language or any other, and who had no acquaint- 
ance with the principles of this country, could earn 
little or nothing, appears like recklessness in the use 
of a great political trust.' " 

Let us by every means at our command spread 
light, support our- institutions, defend our liberties 
in righteousness, and preserve our country from ship- 
wreck, that it may be an asylum for the oppressed, a 
beacon light for the nations. 



What Must Be Done? 



Religious Work. 

We have considered political or civil methods of 
dealing with this question. Now let us consider our 
duties from a religious point of view. Every thing 
should be done from a Christian stand-point; but we 
have to preserve ouf civilization from Rome's en- 
croachments, hence the political phase of the ques- 
tion is highly important to every lover of our land, 
with its civilization, peculiar institutions, and boasted, 
blood-bought liberties. 

But wdiat shall we do to Christianize and save 
Roman Catholics? It will not do to recognize Ro- 
manism as a part of the Church of God, a denomina- 
tion of Christians. It is an apostate communion, the 
antichrist, the Babylon of Revelation, the " mother of 
harlots and abominations;" " drunken with the blood 
of the saints," the angels await her destruction. (Rev. 
xvii. 5, 6, and 18; xix. 1-3.) Surely some members 
of the Roman communion will be saved? So, doubt- 
less, will some heathens be saved. 

But this does not prove either Romanism or 
heathenism to be of God; nor the one more than the 
other. With this before us, let us study our duty as 
Christians. 

I. Pray for their conversion to God. 

Earnest prayer is essential to all w^ork for souls. 
The work of God cannot be advanced without fer- 
f308^) 



WHAT MUST BE DONE? 



vent prayer. It is only by asking that we receive. 
(Matt. vii. 7, 8.) By prayer alone is there access to 
God and salvation. (Rom. x. 12, 13.) He who 
would continue in the divine fellowship must "con- 
tinue in prayer." (Col. iv. 2.) There is no power to 
work for the Lord but by his enduement. (Luke 
xxiv. 49. ) Without this enduement we cannot suc- 
cessfully witness for Jesus. (Acts i. 8.) The power 
is from the Holy Ghost, to receive whom we must pray 
to the Father. (Luke xi. 13.) We must pray for 
ministers (Eph. vi. 18, 19) that God may give them 
an open door. And we must intercede for the perish- 
ing of all classes. ( 1 Tim. ii. 1. ) 

Without fervent prayer for them we may not ex- 
pect to effect their conversion. Earnest supplica- 
tions are essential to the furtherance of God's w T ork, 
at home or abroad, among Protestants, Catholics, or 
heathens. Let every lover of God and his work, of 
Jesus and those for whom he died, of poor deluded 
Romanists, the slaves of superstition, the dupes of a 
mercenary priesthood; let all true Christians pray 
daily mightily to God for their emancipation, that 
they may come into the light of the knowledge of the 
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 

II. Circulate the Bible among them, 

Roman Catholics are virtually shut off from the 
Bible, the pure Word of God. This I have shown 
in former pages. "My people are destroyed for lack 
of knowledge" (Hos. iv. 6), says the Lord. The 
Word of God circulated among Romanists will do 
great good. Insist on the necessity of reading it. 
Induce them, if possible, to "search the Scriptures," 
because they testify of Christ. Many might be con- 



310 THE DANGER SIGNAL. 

verted to God and saved from the blight of Bomish 
superstitions, if only their Protestant friends would 
hold Bible-readings with them, so as to stimulate 
the spirit of inquiry and Bible study among them. 
A Bible-reading people cannot long be slaves to 
popery. 

Other literature will also do much good. Let it be 
a pure, healthful, Christian literature that insists on 
regeneration, the witness of the Spirit, personal holi- 
ness and individual responsibility to God; or else it 
may boldly attack the sophistries of Borne, expose 
her impurities, and lay bare her crimes. Of course 
this latter is the more uncertain and risky kind of 
reading to give a Catholic. It will no doubt tarn him 
from his errors, or drive him from your reach. Such 
works as Chiniquy's and Fulton's (notably, "Why 
Priest's Should Wed " ) have resulted in the awaken- 
ing of many from Bome's delusive dreams. Of 
course others curse them, their authors and circula- 
tors, bitterly. 

But though this is the risky course, it is the vigor- 
ous and I believe apostolic course. One can readily 
see that Christ and his apostles drew the lines sharp- 
ly. They spared none, but uncompromisingly and 
powerfully denounced the Pharisaism, false philoso- 
phies, vain traditions, and shams, and sins of their 
day. 

III. Preach to them. 

In this section I would emphasize what I said in 
the preceding. Do not be afraid to raise the issues. 
Preach against Romanism, but not against Romanists. 
Fearlessly expose her heresies, powerfully lay bare 
her corruptions, unflinchingly expose her fatal per- 



WHAT MUST BE DONE? 



versions of truth. Were Christ on earth to-day, pop- 
ery would come in for the merciless scathings then 
awarded to Pharisaism. Still, where the truth broke 
the heart he would cry out in tones of tenderest sym- 
pathy: "Blessed are the poor in spirit; " "Come unto 
me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,- and I will 
give you rest," 

Then again: May we not appoint men and women 
that are adapted to this work, as missionaries to the 
Romanists of our cities? We have missionaries to 
Catholics in Italy, Mexico, and other lands; why not 
here? In this country they are largely foreigners, 
and totally inaccessible to our ordinary methods of 
Church work. Why send them the gospel in Italy 
(which we surely must do), and let them die within 
sound of our church-bells, without an effort to bring 
them to a knowledge of Christ? Are not their souls 
worth as much after they get here as before they 
come to our shores? 

We have a few small missions to the Jews, and 
a little effort is made to Christianize the Chinese who 
come among us. But O how little it all is compared 
with our ability! Shall we not greatly increase these, 
and add some Catholic missions? The sad truth is, 
we lack religion ourselves. Christian Churches have 
dressed themselves up in gold and fine apparel and 
sat down over their pipes and quids to enjoy life. 
This pandering to the flesh — seeking ease, dignity, 
and high life — is undermining the spiritual life of 
large portions of Protestantism; and rushing us onto 
the reefs whereon the papacy wrecked. 

I do here enter my most earnest protest against 
the methods of Church service that in so many places 



312 



THE DANGER SIGNAL. 



are killing our Churches with the dry-rot of formal- 
ism. Sermons are often preached that have more of 
" science, falsely so-called/' and of Burns, Shake- 
speare, poets, and other like irrelevant matter, than 
of the pure word of God, " Christ and him crucified." 
But more common than this is the manipulation of 
the song service by unconverted, irreverent, godless 
choirs. Instead of the congregations singing out of 
full hearts soul-stirring melodies to the praise of God, 
we have often to hear the squeaking out of operatic 
tunes by worldlings, sometimes opera singers, etc.; 
and while the minister is at prayer a large part of the 
congregation are sitting up irreverently gazing about, 
and may be members of the choir are giggling and 
passing notes. Such say the preacher has his part 
of the "performance," and they theirs. Such pro- 
ceedings must shock the holy angels, pain (if pain be 
possible there) the blood-washed hosts of heaven, 
insult the Christ of Calvary, and grieve the Holy 
Spirit. Let us insist on all the congregation join- 
ing in song and prayer. "Let everything that hath 
breath praise the Lord." 

To return: Preaching to Bomanists, as to all 
others, must be based on the truth of God. We have 
need to insist earnestly, lovingly, persistently on the 
great cardinal doctrines of revelation: Jesus the 
only Mediator between God and man. (Acts iv. 12.) 
The direct work and witness of the Holy Ghost. 
(Bom viii. 14, 16; John iii. 8, xiv. 16, 17; Bom. viii. 
9.) Bepentance as including a thorough turning 
from all sin. (Ezek. xviii. 30, 31; Luke xiii. 3; Acts 
xvii. 30, 31; Mark vi. 11, 12.) Justification by faith 
alone. (Bom. iii. 23-31, iv. 3, v. 1; Acts xiii. 38, 39, 



WHAT MUST BE DOXE? 313 

xvi. 30, 31.) Regeneration by the Spirit of God. 
(John iii. 3; Eph. ii. 1, 5; Rom. v. 5; John i. 12, 13; 
2 Pet i. 3, 4.) Personal holiness. (Heb. xii. 14, ii. 
11, xiii. 12; Rom. vi. 6-14, 22; 1 Pet. i. 15, 16; 1 
Thess. v. 23; Luke i. 73-75.) 

We must expose the fallacy of purgatory as an 
agency of purification (Eccles. ix. 10; Heb. ix. 27; 1 
John i. 7; 2 Cor. vi. 2), and of their heresy of works 
of supererogation (Job xxxv. 7; Luke xvii. 10; Tit. 
iii. 5-7; Rom. iii. 20-22, v. 6, 17, 18). 

Let us work for souls. May our Father direct and 
reward us, give us access to the perishing, and enable 
us to thus glorify his name! Amen. 

May grace, mercy, and peace abide with all my 
readers, both Catholic and Protestant, to all of whom 
I send loye! 



The End. 



BOOKS FOR SALE BY LL PICKETT, 

COLUT^BIH, S. O. 
OR MAYTTE ORDERED THROUGH 

BARBRR & SMITH, 

NASHVILLE, TENN, 



We believe in the circulation of good books. It is impossible 
to build a strong, robust Christian life without reading good lit- 
erature. All vigorous Churches recognize this fact, and have 
their publishing houses for the dissemination of religious litera- 
ture. One of the duties of the preacher is to see that his people 
are supplied with good books and papers. Many children will 
forever be lost because the parents were too busy, too careless, or 
too stingy to supply them with good books and other reading. 

Who w T ill help us in circulating our publications? I carry a 
good line of books besides my own publications. The following 
are some of the books. They will be sent prepaid for prices 
named. Good discounts to preachers and agents. I will send 
$6 worth for $5. 

BOOKS BY REV. L. L. PICKETT. 

The Book and Its Theme. 290 pages. Cloth. Price $1. 

" It is straight Wesleyanism throughout."— Christian Witness. 

"Am well pleased with it. Its circulation will do much good." 
— Rev. M. W. Knapp. 

" Its teaching is rigidly scriptural and Wesley an, and its object 
is to glorify God and benefit men. Both ends will surely be met." 
— Bishop J, S. Key, in "Introduction." 

The Danger Signal; or, A Shot at the Foe. Illustrated. 
Price $1. 

Leaves from the Tree of Life. 312 pages. Cloth. Price $1. 

"It is clear, pointed, and full of valuable information for the 
careful student." — Central Methodist 

"These Bible-readings are the fruits of an earnestness that 
breathes in every line, a diligence that spared no labor or pains 
in their preparation, and an evangelical fervor that is felt all 
along by the responsive reader." — Nashville Christian Advocate. 
0314) 



The Holy Day; or, Remember the Sabbath. 61 pages. 
Paper. Price 10 cents. 

Why I Do Not Immerse. 68 pages. Paper. Price 10 cents. 

St. Paul on Holiness. 20 pages. Paper. Price 5 cents. 
It is said of these others that they are "strong," "clear," 
"pointed," "helpful." 

Tobacco : Its Use and Abuse. By Rev. J. B. Wight. Price $1 . 
"A remarkably strong and trenchant book." — The Advance. 
"All our young people ought to read the book." — Holston Meth- 
odist. 

" It opens the eyes and stirs the conscience." — Rev. J. E. Eorie. 

Sanctification. Rev. B. Carradine. 223 pages. Cloth. Price 
80 cents. 

This masterly presentation of this great subject will stir the 
Church wherever it goes. We anticipate a fine sale. 

Faith Papers.. By Rev. S. A. Keen. Price, cloth, 40 cents; 
paper covers, 25 cents. 

"It is a rich addition to our Methodist literature on faith as an 
experience." — Indiana Christian Advocate. 

"The book cannot but do good, especially among earnest in- 
quirers after salvation." — Bishop Thoburn. 

Mary Singleton; or, The Question Answered. By Rev. J. 
D. Cameron. Price, paper covers, 20 cents ; per dozen, $2. 

If you want to break up dancing, circulate this book. It is 
strong in argument, charming in style. 

How to Get Rid of the Devil. H. W. Kemper. Paper 
cover. Price 25 cents. 

The Better Land ; or, Christian Emigrants' Guide to Heaven. 
By J. Dods worth. Price $1. 

BOOKS BY REV. M. W. KNAPP. 

Revival Tornadoes. Price $1. 

Out of Egypt, into Canaan. Price 80 cents. 

Christ Crowned Within. Price 75 cents. 

Such terms as the following are used to describe them : " Ex- 
cellent," "splendid," " helpful," "very interesting," " choice," etc. 
They are selling by the thousands, and well deserve the popu- 
larity they have gained. 

(315) 



T. S. ARTHUR'S WORKS. 

The soul-stirring temperance romances of this charming Chris- 
tian writer have sold into the hundreds of thousands, and 
wherever they go they find readers and do good. Every young 
man should read them. 

Saved As by Fire. Price $1. 

Danger; or, Wounded in the House of a Friend. Price $1. 

Three Years in a Man Trap. Price $1. 

Cast Adrift. Price $1. 

Woman to the Rescue. Price $1. 

Bar-rooms at Brantly. Price $1. 



JigpNote the following valuable books. They should be in 
every home: 

Smith's Bible Dictionary. Price $2. 

Cruden's Concordance. Complete. Price $2. 

Perfect Love. Rev. J. A. Wood. Cloth. Price $1. 

Purity and Maturity. Rev. J. A. Wood. Cloth. Price 75 
cents. 

The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life. H. W S. Price 
75 cents. 

The popularity and remarkable sale of "The Christian's Se- 
cret " are well known. No person who wants to do right should 
be satisfied to live and die without reading this precious book. 

The Louisiana State Lottery Examined and Exposed. Rev. 
B. Carradine. Price 25 cents. 

This terrific exposure of that infamous institution ought to be 
circulated everywhere. It shows up the corruption of the lot- 
tery in a masterly way. 

Behold the Lamb of God. Rev. H. R. Withers. Price $1. 

This is a work that preachers and thinking people will find a 
great deal of food in. It is a strong book by a grand, good man. 

WORKS ON ROMANISM. 

Fifty Years in the Church of Rome. C. Chiniquy. 832 
pages. Price $2.25. 

The Priest, the Woman, and the Confessional. C. Chiniquy. 
Price $1. 

This noble man has been mobbed thirty times since his con- 
version. His book has been twice burned. His career is re- 
markable. He has won about 25,000 converts from Rome's idol- 
atrous heresies. 
(316) 



Why Priests Should Wed. J. D. Fulton. Price §1.25. Sales 
over 200,000. 
The Danger Signal. Price $1. 
Blnyan's Holy War. Cloth. Price $1. 



Pilgrim's Progress. Cloth. Price $1. 

The Second Blessing Demonstrated. Paper. Price 10 cents. 
J^HTHymn Books of the M. E. Church, South, at 25 cent-, 50 
cents, 75 cents, and up to $2. 
Also, Hymn and Tune Books, different prices, to $3.50. 
Bibles, from 40 cents to $10. 

Send us also your subscription to 

THE WAY OF FAITH, 

A Weekly Holiness Paper. We desire to make it clear, pure, 
strong — a help to Christians, a terror to evil-doers. Price $1 a 
year. To all preachers 50 cents a year. Send by money-order, 
New York exchange, or registered letter. 

L. L. Pickett, 

Publisher and Book-seller. Columbia, S. C. 

(317) 



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